‘A player for Bayern’: £17m star told to join Munich after Newcastle snub

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Former Bayern Munich ace Markus Babbel wants the Bundesliga champions to sign Nico Schlotterbeck after the £17 million defender turned down Premier League outfit Newcastle United, speaking to Sky.

Now, when Newcastle made an approach for Freiburg’s Germany U21 international in the January transfer window, they probably saw him as someone capable of stopping goals rather than scoring them.

Schlotterbeck is a centre-half after all.

But as Freiburg defeated Wolfsburg 3-2 in a topsy-turvy clash earlier this month – keeping their Champions League hopes alive in the process – Schlotternbeck proved that he can be as influential in the attacking third as he is in the defensive one, lashing a 25-yard thunderbolt into the top corner with 87 minutes on the clock.

That was Schlotterbeck’s fourth goal of an outstanding campaign. Not bad for a defender. And more than every single player in Eddie Howe’s Newcastle squad, apart from the influential duo of Allan Saint-Maximin and Callum Wilson.

Where next for Nico Schlotterbeck?

According to 90Min, Schlotterbeck turned down a January move to St James’ Park, however, perhaps awaiting better offers from elsewhere. But could one arrive from Munich in the off-season?

“I don’t know Bayern’s financial situation. Nico Schlotterbeck will certainly cost 20 – 25 million euros,” muses Babbel, the former Liverpool defender who won three Bundesliga titles in the 1990s.

“I think he would be a player for FC Bayern.

“You can’t be 100 per cent sure (if he’d succeed). Dayot Upamecano is the best example. I think that Schlotterbeck would find it easier because he also speaks German.”

Schlotterbeck had little interest in walking away from Freiburg in the midst of a superb 2021/22 campaign, opting to stay at an overachieving, tight-knit club looking to seal Europe qualification for only the fifth time in their history.

He did admit, however, that he’d consider offers in the summer.

“I’ve always dreamed of playing in the Bundesliga as a kid. I’m doing that now,” says Schlotterbeck. “But, if at some point I get an attractive offer from England or Spain, I would of course look at it.

“When successful clubs — whether in Germany or abroad — are interested in me, that’s attractive. Just as it was extremely attractive for me to sign for Freiburg four years ago.”