Player has agreement to leave for around half what Swansea City offered

Werder Bremen feel they’ve got a pretty good deal for Standard Liege’s Ishak Belfodil, and SportBild produce figures to back that up this week.

It’s claimed Swansea City offered €13m during the winter transfer window, but Belfodil wasn’t allowed to leave, with the player then promised he could move in the summer.

Werder Bremen now have Belfodil on loan for the season from Standard, and can sign him permanently next summer for €7.5m

That sounds like good business, but ignores much of what actually happened in the winter. It simply wasn’t a case of Belfodil not being for sale, it’s just that Standard turned it into a mess, which was nothing to do with Swansea.

An offer was accepted from Everton, or from an agent thought to be working for Everton, and then the deal collapsed. It led to internal conflict at Standard and the exit, under a cloud, of sporting manager Daniel van Buyten.

Then, following the collapsed Everton move, and tentative approach from Swansea City, Belfodil stayed where he was and didn’t have a second half of the season to match his beginning to the campaign.

That fits in with career inconsistency, so, regardless of what is thought in Germany, this case isn’t so simple as Swansea City losing and Werder Bremen winning.