On Thursday, Sky Deutschland reported Southampton’s Armel Bella-Kotchap has reached a verbal agreement with Borussia Dortmund and the two clubs are working to sort out the details of the operation.
The Bundesliga side have been aiming to sign the defender on loan with an option to buy but the deal is ‘now off’.
That’s according to Sky Deutschland journalist Florian Plettenberg, who took to Twitter to explain the reasons.
He claims Southampton want to include an obligation while BVB wanted only an option to buy as part of the deal to sign the Germany international.
In addition to this, the Saints’ ‘asking price was too expensive’ [loan fee plus obligation to buy] for the German club, which is why the deal is ‘now off’.
Plettenberg, through another tweet, states Southampton’s delay to provide an answer, plus the €15m BVB invested to sign Niclas Füllkrug from Werder Bremen on Thursday, are other reasons why the deal to take Bella-Kotchap to Dortmund won’t take shape.
The 21-year-old has an opportunity to join Bayern Munich as the Sky journalist reported yesterday that the Bavarian club are in contact with Southampton.
❗️🆕 Confirmed again: Bella-Kotchap and BVB is OFF now! ⬇️
Asking price (loan fee, obligation to buy … NO option to buy etc.) too expensive for #BVB! It’s decided. @SkySportDE 🇩🇪 https://t.co/1KWjqYozeu
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) September 1, 2023
