Premier League duo Southampton and Newcastle United want Amos Pieper with the defender’s departure from recently-relegated Arminia Bielefeld confirmed, as reported by Sky Deutschland.
After two years of treading water, Arminia took their final Bundesliga breath this weekend.
A creditable 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig on the final day of the season was not enough to keep Die Arminien in the big time, and the phrase ‘end of an era’ comes to mind.
There were tears rolling down the cheeks of talismanic goalkeeper Stefan Ortega as he bid farewell on Saturday, his virtuoso brilliance not enough to save Arminia’s skin.
In addition to Ortega, Austria international Alessandro Schopf, former Borussia Dortmund ace Gonzalo Castro and much-admired centre-back Pieper have also played their final games for a team who finished 17th in an 18-team Bundesliga table.
Pieper’s contract expires on July 1st. Not that he’ll be without a club for long.
Southampton and Newcastle want Amos Pieper
The Mirror claimed last month that Newcastle are keeping tabs on the ex-Germany U21 ace. Southampton, the report adds, are ‘very keen’ on Pieper, while Chelsea see the 6ft 4ins colossus as a potential replacement for compatriot Antonio Rudiger.
A free-agent brought in from a relegated club to succeed a man bound for Real Madrid; Is this a sign of an era of austerity at Stamford Bridge? Only time will tell.
It is no secret that Southampton are prioritising a new central defender this summer. The ever-volatile Saints remain all-too prone to implosions, with Jan Bednarek, Jack Stephens and Mohamed Salisu all capable of making the sort of calamitous errors you would not usually associate with Premier League stalwarts.
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Southampton missed out on Federico Gatti in January, the Frosinone ace agreeing a move to Juventus instead.
Newcastle, meanwhile, failed to secure the signatures of Sven Botman, Niklas Stark, Nico Schlotterbeck and Jerry St Juste.
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