The striker has starred for the Bundesliga side this season, managing 16 goals and two assists from 11 games.

Sky Deutschland state the 27-year-old’s fine form has drawn the attention of several clubs, including Manchester United.

The Guinea international has a deal until 2026 and that includes a €17.5m release clause, valid for the winter market. As it stands, his future hasn’t yet been resolved.

“Everything is still open, but he is definitely on United’s list,” Sky transfer expert Florian Plettenberg said.

The journalist adds Manchester United ‘have asked’ about the conditions needed to carry out the transfer, and they are the club the player ‘could think about’ joining in the winter market.

Plettenberg took to X, formerly Twitter, to further add the Premier League side are ‘very interested’ in the player. He claims Erik ten Hag’s side are ‘informed about the details’ to secure him.

If Manchester United’s interest becomes concrete, Plettenberg says they can be a ‘serious option’ for Guirassy, who ‘can leave’ the German club in January.

The post ‘Definitely’ – Manchester United hovering for signing, contact made and conditions founds out appeared first on Sport Witness.

The defender has been speaking to BILD about his career so far and where he may have ended up if he’d had any say in the matter.

He’s currently playing for Stuttgart after joining them on a free transfer in the summer after a five-year stay at Borussia Dortmund came to an end.

He has been re-establishing himself with Stuttgart after something of a disappointing end to his time at Signal Iduna Park, where he had been a regular before falling down the pecking order and eventually being allowed to leave at the end of his contract.

He had been with Dortmund after joining them from Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, having previously spent six years working his way up the French side’s various youth ranks to PSG B before moving to Dortmund.

That means so far, his career has been limited to France and Germany, but he admits he wouldn’t have minded a move to England at some point, and to one club in particular, Chelsea.

“I’m a professional now, so I don’t have a favorite club anymore,” he said.

“When I was little, I was a big fan of Paris Saint Germain. And I always liked Chelsea FC because of Didier Drogba.

“Because of my Ivorian roots, Drogba is a great role model for me that I look up to. My father is also a huge fan of his. In Ivory Coast he is a national hero.”

The post “I always liked Chelsea” – Defender reveals affinity for Blues, Blues legend a ‘great role model’ for him appeared first on Sport Witness.

The young striker has been speaking to Transferkmartk’s German edition, where he also revealed his idol is former Real Madrid star Karim Benzema.

Boteli has been making a name for himself in German youth football this season, with 12 goals in 12 games for the U19s in the Bundesliga West.

His performances have been earning him admiring glances from around Europe, with reports in Germany and Italy explaining that Juventus could be battling Everton for his signature in the near future.

That’s because the youngster is yet to sign a professional contract, meaning he could be signed for a lower compensation fee compared to a full transfer fee once he turns 18 and signs a professional contract with the German side.

Their scouting efforts may have been wasted, though, with Boteli hinting he’s not interested in Everton or anywhere else for the time being, but is instead focused on getting into Mönchengladbach’s first-team.

“My role model is Karim Benzema,” he said.

“His story and how he sees football suits me. He has an extraordinary mentality and a great career. I’m doing a good job at the moment because I’m training hard to be the best.

“I see myself in the first team next year. I will pay it (the trust) back.”

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However, it appears he is also a man of principle who respects his former clubs to the point where he is reluctant to sign players from there after leaving them.

This is what Martí Perarnau revealed to AS on Friday in an interview about his new book about the seven years Guardiola has spent at Manchester City.

Nearly 700 pages long, the ‘autopsy’, as it’s described, ‘God Save Pep’ will come out in England on March 19th in paperback format, where a lot will be revealed about the Spaniard’s time in the north of England.

Perarnau was also happy to answer a few questions about some details, such as the idea that Manchester City came close to signing Lionel Messi from Barcelona.

Saying that it was an ‘urban legend’ that Guardiola wanted to sign Barcelona’s best players, he then touched upon the rumours surrounding the Argentine football legend.

He said: “It was Messi who offered himself. The one who knocked on the door was Leo (the Argentine striker’s entourage denies this). Pep had his reticence. He is very clear not to touch Barça and not to touch Bayern. City had a list of Bayern players to sign, and Pep told Txiki not to touch anyone. And there was a lot of them, almost al of them except for the goalkeeper.”

Over the years since taking over in 2016, Guardiola has signed just one player from Barcelona (Claudio Bravo for €18m) and never purchased anyone from Bayern Munich.

He has, however, agreed to send players the other way, as Leroy Sane was sold to Bayern Munich for €49m, while João Cancelo has been on loan both to the German and Spanish sides.

As for Eric García, Sergio Agüero and Ilkay Gündogan, they all left Manchester City for Barcelona on free transfers.

The post Guardiola blocked Txiki’s transfer plans – Manchester City manager disagreed on target approach appeared first on Sport Witness.

After overcoming a knee injury at the start of the season, the forward has managed to shine at the Bundesliga side, managing eight goals and two assists from 10 games.

The 27-year-old’s deal at Brighton lasts until 2027 and as it stands he will have to return to The Amex. That’s according to the player himself and he made this claim when Sky Deutschland asked him about his future plans.

When responding to that, the German insisted he won’t be against the idea of extending his stay at Stuttgart.

“I have a contract with Brighton. As of now, I’ll be back at Brighton in the summer,” he said.

“But the season is still long. The focus is on VfB. I want to be as successful as possible. VfB is a great club. I’m happy to be here. The fans are great. I integrated well, the team welcomed me well. I’m not averse to it, definitely.”

These quotes are made a day after the Brighton owned player revealed he can “imagine” staying at the German club beyond his loan spell.

Two days ago, Bild reported Stuttgart have a €12m purchase option included as part of the temporary deal. Taking this and his recent comments into account, it’s likely he could leave the Seagulls next summer.

Undav spent most of his career in the lower leagues in Germany before joining Royale Union Saint-Gilloise in 2020. His form in Belgium helped him get a move to Brighton but the attacker has struggled to impress there.

On his career so far, Undav explained: “Sometimes I still think: ‘I just scored four goals in the Bundesliga. How does something like that work?’ Nobody believed in me. I didn’t believe in myself. I only played football for fun. And when you’re at home, you talk to your wife and family and say: ‘I made it’.

“This is crazy, to have this feeling that I have proven it to people who never believed in me. It took longer than expected and was a different career path.”

The post Brighton player flirts with summer transfer – Move likely, happy to be proving people wrong appeared first on Sport Witness.

On Thursday, Foot Mercato stated the Red Devils are one of the clubs to have made contact for the striker.

Manchester United’s interest is now discussed in Germany, with Bild providing the latest on this case.

The Premier League side are closely monitoring several attackers and the 27-year-old is one among them. In fact, the report states they are ‘keen’ on the Guinea international.

It’s claimed the frontman is ‘flattered’ by the interest shown by Erik ten Hag’s side, and he doesn’t categorically rule out a move to Old Trafford or another club in January.

As well as Manchester United, Newcastle United, AC Milan and Atlético Madrid also have their eyes set on him. Bild say the player has a €17.5m release clause valid for the next window and this is affordable for English clubs.

Towards the end of September, Guirassy said he would be open to making a switch to the Premier League, and Manchester United or the Magpies could open the door for him.

The post ‘Flattered’ – Manchester United interest welcomed by player and January transfer possible appeared first on Sport Witness.

That’s according to Sport 1, who say the ‘groundbreaking’ deal to sell Diaby to Aston Villa has proven to be a smart one for all involved.

The outlet explains how sporting director Simon Rolfes ‘silenced’ his critics after arriving a year and a half ago with the remit of turning the club’s fortunes around.

That seemed an impossible job, but he’s managed to do just that, reshaping the squad to suit manager Xabi Alonso, who now has them as one of the most exciting teams in Europe and challenging for the Bundesliga title.

To do the work he’s done he first had to sell players this summer, with Mitchel Bakker, Kerem Demirbay, Sardar Azmoun and Moussa Diaby all departing.

The latter moved to Aston Villa in a €55m deal and that one proved to be a ‘groundbreaking one’ as it provided Rolfes with a new transfer budget that allowed him to buy ‘everything his coach wanted’.

He brought in Granit Xhaka, Alejandro Grimaldo, Jonas Hoffman and Victor Boniface with the money brought in from Diaby’s sale to Aston Villa and they’ve proven to be ‘four absolute dream players’ for the club and Alonso.

Diaby, meanwhile, has established himself as a key player under Unai Emery and started in England where he left off in Germany so he’s undoubtedly happy with the move too.

All in all, it’s proven to be a deal that suited everyone involved, but particularly Leverkusen, who sold one player to fund the addition of four who have worked out as complete transfer hits for Rolfes.

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The striker has been speaking to Kicker about life at the French club, where he is currently enjoying plenty of success, particularly in Europe.

They recently enjoyed one of their biggest nights ever as they secured a 3-2 win over Liverpool and in Group E of the Europa League.

Goals from Aron Donnum, Thijs Dallinga and Frank Magri secured the victory and put the French side on course for the knockout stages of the competition.

It was a big moment for the French side, who not only secured a win against much bigger and historical opponents in Liverpool but also over a squad full of world-class stars led by a manager who is also considered one of the best in the world as well.

That was something Schmidt was more than aware of given his own German heritage and he admits he was left in awe when standing next to the Liverpool manager.

“We didn’t say much to each other, other than a “hello,” but I felt very small being right next to him,” he said.

“You usually only see him on TV – but he seems much bigger. You can just feel his extreme aura.

“There are also a lot of players who say that he is an incredibly good coach, even though they haven’t played that much under him – if you can manage that, you really haven’t done much wrong.”

The post Player in awe of Liverpool’s Klopp and his ‘extreme aura’ – Felt ‘very small’ when he met him for first time appeared first on Sport Witness.

With eight goals and two assists in 10 appearances, the striker is off to a great start of season with VfB Stuttgart, and is often getting his form highlighted.

It’s now Kicker who features a story ahead of their match against Werder Bremen. The green club’s head of football, Clemens Fritz, actually knows a lot about Undav’s career, as they crossed paths when the striker was in the club’s youth teams between 2007 and 2012.

It took the forward some time to break through professionally, but that’s something very commendable, according to the director.

“I think there have always been stories like this in the past – and there will always be them in the future,” said Fritz.

“If you look at it, it wasn’t the usual path he took – respect for that, you have to say that.  Taking a detour, pushing through it and not losing faith in his own performance.”

Undav is loaned by Brighton to Stuttgart until the end of the season, and the German club have a buying option over him.

The German media recently revealed that the Bundesliga side only need to spend €12m to get the permanent transfer done, and at this stage, with the form he’s been showing, that sounds like a bargain.

Stuttgart are clearly in a comfortable position where they can wait until the end of the season for it, so we’ll see whether the Brighton loanee will keep up that great form until then.

The post “Respect for that” – Brighton man praised for never giving up, now being rewarded for hard work appeared first on Sport Witness.

That’s according to journalist Christian Falk, who says the German champions are focusing on ‘cheap solutions’ for the winter window rather than big expensive purchases.

As you’ll be more than aware by this point, Palhinha was one step away from securing a move to Bayern in the summer before Bayern cancelled the transfer on deadline day after failing to source a replacement.

The midfielder has since signed a new deal at Craven Cottage, but several reports have made it clear that a move to Bayern could still be on the cards regardless and that was not seen as impediment.

That’s because they’re still on the hunt for a number six for manager Thomas Tuchel, who has made it clear that position needs strengthening at some point.

Palhinha is believed to be his preferred target and it was even claimed that Fulham were willing to accept a cheaper deal than the one they agreed to in the summer.

But it appears that may not be cheap enough as Bayern are assessing their options, and a move for the Fulham move “isn’t really hot” at this moment in time.

“The search is still ongoing in the search for a number six, but Palhinha isn’t really hot at the moment either,” he said amid a discussion on Manchester United’s Casemiro.

“Bayern want to find cheap solutions in the winter and are looking. Distribution still has priority.”

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