Eintracht Frankfurt coach Oliver Glasner has played down reports suggesting Evan Ndicka has agreed a move to Barcelona amid rival interest from Premier League outfit Tottenham Hotspur, speaking to Fussbal Transfers.
Come the summer, one of the Bundesliga’s finest teams will lose not only their star centre-half but also their goalscoring midfielder (Daichi Kamada), their most experienced player (Makoto Hasebe), and their on-loan whizzkid (Ansgar Knauff).
Fortunately, Frankfurt have a better record than most when it comes to replacing key players.
Eagles fans should be confident, then, that even if Ndicka goes go, a high-quality option will be brought in to fill the void.
Paris-born Ndicka, a former France U21 international, is out of contract in a matter of months. Sport1 believe that Barcelona have reached an agreement with the former Auxerre ace. But Glasner has no reason to believe that anything is done just yet.
Will Tottenham target Evan Ndicka join Barcelona?
“I keep in touch with them (my out of contract players). But, so far, I haven’t found out from anyone that they signed anywhere,” Glasner says.
“Should (Ndicka) say that he wants to play somewhere else next year, then I hope and I expect that we’ll find out beforehand before it’s written anywhere.”
According to German reporter Christian Falk, Tottenham held talks with Ndicka’s camp a couple of weeks ago. Spurs are in the market for a left-sided centre-half with Clement Lenglet only on loan from Barcelona. And Ndicka is, obviously, far more affordable than fellow Bundesliga prospects Piero Hincapie and Josko Gvardiol.
Arsenal have also been linked. The chances of Ndicka ending up at the Emiartes look slim, however. The Gunners brought in the similarly left-footed Jakub Kiwior from Spezia in Serie A last month.
“I honestly have to say that I was surprised by his development,” says his former Frankfurt coach Adi Hutter. “Evan has developed phenomenally. He’s very attentive in the analysis of his own game. He’s very modest and always takes a lot on board.”
Ndicka has started 20 Bundesliga games this season. He was also a massive part of the Frankfurt team who won the Europa League last term.
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