£17m striker turns down new contract in boost to Tottenham and West Ham

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Sasa Kalajdzic has turned down a new contract amid interest from Premier League rivals West Ham United and Tottenham Hotspur, with Kicker claiming that the striker is likely to leave VFB Stuttgart in the transfer window. 

Earlier this week, Stuttgart director Sven Mislintat insisted he was losing no sleep regarding Kalajdzic’s uncertain future at the Mercedes Benz Arena. 

That confidence may have been misplaced. 

Because, after Kicker reported that the sky-scraping Austria international is a £17 million transfer target for London neighbours Tottenham and West Ham, a summer departure is starting to feel less like a case of ‘if?’ and more ‘when?’.

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Kalajdzic, a 6ft 7ins targetman who unsurprisingly boasts a formidable aerial presence, shot to fame with 17 goals in all competitions during Stuttgart’s first season back in the Bundesliga.

He also became the first VFB player since the legendary Fredi Bobic in the mid-1990s to find the net in seven successive league matches. 

Is Sasa Kalajdzic Premier League-bound?

Kalajdzic has hit the target just three times in 2021/22. But this is not a classic case of second-season syndrome.

A niggling shoulder injury has kept him on the treatment table for much of the campaign. And it’s no coincidence that, since Kalajdzic returned to full fitness, Stuttgart have rediscovered their mojo, dragging themselves out of the relegation zone. 

Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side have won just three of the 17 games Kalajdzic has missed through injury this season. Life without the 24-year-old man-mountain, then, doesn’t bare thinking about. 

But with Kicker reporting that Kalajdzic has turned down a ‘very good’ contract offer this week, Stuttgart must start preparing for a worst-case scenario. The former Admira Wacker youngster will be a free-agent in 2023. This summer may be Stuttgart’s last chance to secure a sizeable fee for their star man. 

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Tottenham boss Antonio Conte has made no secret of his desire to bring in a new number nine to ease the burden on Harry Kane’s shoulders.

And Kalajdzic is one of those ‘Goldilocks-zone’ strikers. Affordable, young and not yet established enough to demand a place in the Spurs XI, week-in-week-out. 

Just right.