VfB Stuttgart appear to be talking themselves out of a deal for Brighton and Hove Albion striker Deniz Undav, with them now valuing the move at €40m.
SportBILD cover the player today and the ongoing saga about what will happen to him in the summer when his loan deal comes to an end.
Undav joined the German side on loan in the summer after something of a miserable year with the Seagulls following a move from Belgium, where he had shone with Union SG.
He’s hit the ground running back in Germany and proven to be an extremely smart signing, with 15 goals and eight assists in 23 Bundesliga games, despite only featuring in 62% of the minutes, and a fearsome partnership with Serhou Guirassy as well.
Stuttgart have an option to sign the striker for €20m at the end of the season, although that figure is dependent on them qualifying for the Champions League and will be lower if they don’t. It is likely they’ll need to pay that, though, given how things current stand.
SportBILD, though, say that figure also comes with a €5m a year wage packet for the striker and so add on a four-year deal and the club are looking at spending €40m overall.
In truth, it’s all a little strange from them. They’ve been stressing about this price tag for months, despite it not actually being that high given the numbers he’s posted, and now seem to be increasing it with each passing report.
Indeed, it feels like the club are making his price tag rise so they can potentially excuse not getting him in the summer by saying he was too expensive for them and so not financially viable.
Perhaps it’s all part of the game to get Brighton to do a different deal, but for now it seems they’re hesitant to sign Undav permanently, or at least pay what’s required to do so.
