Manchester City goalkeeper Stefan Ortega was close to joining another club this summer, before eventually moving to the Etihad.
That’s according to Stern, who cover a conversation regarding the player on Sky Germany’s Sky 90 programme today.
Ortega joined Manchester City on a free transfer from Arminia Bielefeld in the summer, arriving as back up to Ederson in his first move outside of Germany.
That’s a role he has fully embraced and has already been rewarded for, making two appearances in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla.
It seems, though, he did have the option to move elsewhere and be number one at Schalke, where he ‘was a topic’ for Schalke early in the summer. However, a move was turned down, partly due to coach Frank Kramer.
The Manchester City goalkeeper and Schalke were ‘already quite far along’ but he sent a rejection to Königsblau because of the man in the dugout.
According to journalist Yannick Erkenbrecher, the goalkeeper wasn’t keen on working with the coach after an unsuccessful spell with him at Bielefeld.
“If my information is correct, Ortega could have been signed in the summer – it was all quite far with Schalke,” he is quoted as saying.
“And then it was: Nope. Then Stefan Ortega said: ‘With the coach, that already didn’t work in Bielefeld, I don’t want that again now’.”
“Ortega had several options, including S04, which he would also have liked to take,” added Große Schlarmann.
“But nothing had been negotiated yet – Kramer certainly played a part in the decision. Manchester City only came afterwards!”
