Manchester City blocking a resale this summer was one of the reasons Ko Itakura couldn’t join the German side this summer.
That’s according to BILD, who cover the defender’s ‘emotional farewell’ from the Bundesliga side this week.
Itakura spent last season on loan with the club and was a key player for them in their promotion back to Germany’s top flight.
Schalke had been keen to keep him and had a €5m option to do so but elected not to take up that option due to their tight financial structure.
That’s left the player returning to Manchester City, who are likely to sell him on this summer as he is not a part of their plans going forwards.
In the interim, BILD explain that Itakura has had to bid ‘an emotional farewell’ to his temporary home, with Schalke’s Rouven Schröder even admitting “his departure hurts us incredibly. But we will not do anything unreasonable.”
“It was very emotional from both sides. It just shows what has happened here in the past year. And how much players identify with our club.”
The newspaper explains that some fans had questioned why Schalke simply didn’t buy Itakura to then sell him on for a profit, but it seems Manchester City blocked this idea.
They placed a clause in their contract with Schalke which ‘prevented’ the German club from doing that.
Indeed, according to BILD, this English clubs pay particular attention to this detail and tend to put a ‘resale ban’ in place on loan deal’s such as Itakura’s.
Thus, the Japanese international will be returning to the Etihad, although that is likely to only be on a temporary basis.
