Tottenham Hotspur were strongly linked to Max Meyer at the end of the last summer transfer window. Spurs registered their interest with Schalke over a transfer, and a potential fee was put at around €45m, but no actual offer arrived from Tottenham.
Meyer himself has spoken about the approach, and it would be assumed Tottenham baulked at the asking price and decided to move on to other last minute targets.
Now Tottenham could likely get him for half the price, or even less. Meyer had an excellent game for Schalke on Saturday, in a 4-1 victory over Wolfsburg. However, he’s not been at that level often enough.
That’s the case with several players at Schalke this season. Going through a difficult season, individuals have been blamed repeatedly, and surprisingly the management team have got off relatively lightly.
Schalke finished 5th last season, and then brought in sporting director Christian Heidel and coach Markus Weinzierl. It was supposed to be the dream team, but has so far proven to be a nightmare with the team rising to tenth at the weekend.
Weinzerl has failed to get his players performing consistently, and too often the blame is pushed towards those players. After Meyer’s good performance, Heidel was asked about renewal talks, and is quoted by Bild as saying: “At the moment it makes no sense to think about it. Max has to convince the coach that he belongs to the first eleven.”
It’s perhaps not the best way to handle the situation. Meyer, 21 years of age, had just played well, and has a contract running out in June 2018, if Schalke really annoy him there’s the chance of a free transfer not so far away.
However, German newspaper Bild claim Meyer and Schalke have already decided on ‘divorce’ this summer, and the player could leave for €20m. There’s interest, but Bild only name Tottenham as a potential destination.
Meyer has played in a variety of attacking roles for Schalke and could provide a versatile option for Mauricio Pochettino. The Tottenham manager may be able to manage the player’s development better than what is currently happening at Schalke.
If Clinton N’Jie leaves permanently, as expected, and one or more of Georges-Kévin N’Koudou, Erik Lamela or Moussa Sissoko go, then Pochettino would probably look to add another attacking option.
