Premier League rivals Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United want Sasa Kalajdzic but the Stuttgart striker insists he has received no ‘concrete’ offers from any club in the build-up to the summer transfer window, speaking to Krone Zeitung.
Fittingly, it was Kalajdzic who set Stuttgart on their way to a heart-stopping, final day victory over Koln, a result that ensured Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side will be gracing the Bundesliga stage again in 2021/22.
In his last 11 games, the 6ft 7ins centre-forward has scored six goals.
And if he hadn’t spent two thirds of the campaign stuck on the treatment table, recovering from a problematic shoulder issue, Stuttgart surely wouldn’t have had to wait until the final seconds of a gruelling campaign to secure their top-flight status.
Unfortunately for the 2007 Bundesliga champions, there’s no guarantee Matarazzo will be able to rely upon Kalajdzic’s ruthless finishing skills and renowned aerial presence next term. The Austria international has reportedly turned down the chance to extend a contract that is due to expire in 2023.
And with Kicker linking Spurs and West Ham with a £17 million swoop, this summer is perhaps Stuttgart’s last chance to sell their prized asset for a substantial sum.
Tottenham and West Ham want Sasa Kalajdzic from Stuttgart
“In the next few days I will be in talks with Stuttgart and my advisor, Sascha Empacher,” says Kalajdzic, who last season equalled Fredi Bobic’s club record while scoring in seven successive league games.
“The hot days are coming, not only because of the weather.”
Kalajdzic has also been mentioned as a potential successor for the wantaway Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich. The 24-year-old, however, insists that there is ‘nothing concrete on the table, from Bayern or other (clubs)’.
Perhaps inevitably, given his towering frame, the two-metre targetman has been likened to former Liverpool and England striker Peter Crouch.
And ex-Anfield favourite Dietmar Hamann believes Kalajdzic would give Jurgen Klopp an entirely different dimension in the final third, should Liverpool opt to bring in an old-school number nine as Divock Origi’s successor.
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“Liverpool’s recruitment has been spot on. I’m sure they’ve got one or two players in the pipeline that they’re looking at,” says Hamann. “It’s always important to have competition in the squad, that you bring players in and freshen it up.
“There’s a player at Stuttgart; Kalajdzic. A Peter Crouch-type, he’s 6ft 7ins, with very good hold-up play. That might be a player who might be interesting for Liverpool.”
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