Bundesliga high-flyers Hoffenheim could lose Kerem Demirbay in the January transfer window with Premier League duo Arsenal and Everton interested.
Kerem Demirbay perhaps does not get the credit he deserves but there is a case to be made that he has been Hoffenheim’s star man over the last 18 months.
Fresh-faced coaching prodigy Julian Nagelsmann led Hoffenheim into Europe for the first time in their history last season and the village side are currently just four points of second place at the halfway point of the 2017/18 campaign.
But it appears there is a very real concern that, when the Bundesliga resumes after the winter break, Hoffenheim will have to contend without their talismanic attacker.
Because Newsmondo is reporting that the German international is not short of admirers with big-spending Serie A strugglers AC Milan keen to add him to their ongoing recruitment drive. And, from the Premier League, it is understood that Everton and Arsenal are interested.
A technically gifted and unpredictable central midfielder, it is interesting to wonder whether Arsenal see Demirbay as a long-term successor to his international colleague Mesut Ozil, whose contract expires at the end of this season.
But links with Everton may come as a surprise, particularly as the Toffees are not short of number tens at the moment. Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson and Davy Klaassen are all fighting it out for the role but Demirbay would offer the pace and explosive thrust that none of the trio can really match.
In 27 Bundesliga appearances last season, the former Dortmund youngster scored six and set up another eight. And, interestingly, Bild stated back in August that former BVB coach Jurgen Klopp was keen on a reunion at Liverpool.
Though it appears that Everton will be Demirbay’s destination if he moves to Merseyside this month.
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