VfB Stuttgart have outright told Brighton and Hove Albion they cannot afford to sign Deniz Undav this summer, even though everyone wants them to.
That’s according to Kicker, relayed by BW 24, who say the German club have communicated to Brighton that they can’t afford the €20m purchase clause in the striker’s loan deal.
The newspaper reports that Stuttgart, who have been deliberating on a permanent move for Undav for months at this point, have now made a definite decision about potentially signing him in the summer.
They’ve told Brighton that they can’t afford the €20m fee they agreed, and a deal can’t take place at that price point as it’s simply ‘too expensive’ for them.
Thus, all indications are that the striker, who has 16 goals and nine assists in 25 games in the Bundesliga despite playing in just 64% of the available minutes, will be heading back to Brighton.
It is this which may have sparked the ‘bizarre’ comments from Roberto De Zerbi earlier this month when he said Undav would be back in his squad this summer.
That led to some confusion in Germany, but BW 24 speculate it may have been because the Swabians have already made their stance clear.
In reality it feels like Stuttgart are just playing games, knowing the striker wants to stay and not go back and hoping they can play the poverty card to bring that asking price down.
Brighton don’t seem to have any intention of doing so and, given the way they’ve negotiated deals in recent years to consistently get what they want, it seems unlikely they’ll change tact here either.
