Brajan Gruda left 1. FSV Mainz 05 for Brighton & Hove Albion in the summer window.
The 20-year-old’s sale helped the Bundesliga side collect a club-record fee of €30m plus bonuses.
This week’s edition of SportBild has published an interview with Mainz 05 sporting director Christian Heidel. It was no surprise to see them ask him about Gruda’s sale to Brighton.
Heidel was the German club’s sporting director between 1992 and 2016. He left them for Schalke before returning to Mainz 05 in 2019.
During his time at Schalke, the director sold Leroy Sané to Manchester City. SportBild pointed out to Heidel that the current Bayern Munich player and Gruda are the two big sales of his management career.
When responding to that, Heidel explained why Mainz 05 decided to allow Gruda to join the Premier League side.
“Both transfers were important. There was just one huge difference: at Schalke we had to sell Leroy because it was economically necessary,” he said.
“With Brajan we were not under such financial pressure here in Mainz. But the offer then moved in a direction where we said: We have to do this now. Both for Brajan and for Mainz 05. Because the majority of this club is still financed through transfer surpluses.”
The German magazine asked the Mainz 05 official if there’s a sell-on clause as part of the Gruda deal.
“Brajan has the potential to become an outstanding player. If this potential is exploited, we want to participate in it. And that’s how the contract is designed,” Heidel explained.
The attacking midfielder has been sidelined with an injury for over a month. This has stopped him from making his debut for Brighton.
