Steven Bergwijn could have joined former Tottenham Hotspur team-mates Harry Kane and Eric Dier at Bayern Munich but remains in the Eredivisie with Ajax demanding more than £26 million for their club captain.
Signing Harry Kane – arguably the finest centre-forward in world football – is one thing. We can understand Bayern Munich going for Kieran Trippier too, the Newcastle ace still one of Europe’s premiere right-backs.
But Eric Dier and Steven Bergwijn? The Bundesliga champions targeting two players who fell out of favour before leaving Tottenham Hotspur was not something we had on our 2024 Bingo card, Bayern succeeding in landing the former before turning their attention to the latter in the final few days of the January transfer window.
Bayern Munich looked at another former Tottenham man
“Bayern has indeed asked for Bergwijn,” Nathan Van Kooperen, the Dutch international’s agent, tells ESPN’s Good Morning Eredivisie show. “That was two days before the transfer deadline.”
Any hopes Bergwijn may have had of joining a few familiar faces in Bavaria went in smoke, however, with Bayern bringing forward Bryan Zaragoza’s move from Granada by a few months instead.
“Bayern made it clear that Bryan Zaragoza from Granada was the first option,” the agent adds. “The transfer of Bergwijn would involve an amount of more than 30 million euros. But it was not concrete, so we did not discuss it concretely among ourselves.”
With Bergwijn sticking around at the Johan Cruyff Arena for the next few months, Kane and Dier both had afternoons to forget as Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern side slumped to a 3-0 defeat at Bundesliga title rivals Bayer Leverkusen on Saturday, Xabi Alonso’s free-flowing, front-foot football making mincemeat of their visitors.
The gap at the top of the table now stands at five points, Leverkusen taking one giant stride towards a first ever top-flight title.
West Ham eyeing ex-Spurs man
HITC Football understands that Liverpool and Manchester City both had scouts at the Bay Arena, with the English Premier League also a potential destination for Bergwijn. West Ham are keen on bringing the winger back to London.
“It’s true about the interest from Saudi and West Ham,” Van Kooperen explains. “At the moment, Stevie is very important for Ajax. He is the captain so nothing to complain (about). We started a two-year project with Ajax.
“What happens in the summer, we will see. He is focused on Ajax and on playing in the Euros.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
