Relegation could see £25m assist-machine join Arsenal or Tottenham

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If any side needed a stroke of luck, it was Stuttgart. 

And, as Armel Bella-Kotchap put through his own net just before the hour at the Mercedes Benz Arena, it felt as if Pellegrino Matarazzo’s side had rolled a double six in a season full of snake eyes, the long-term absences of star forwards Silas and Sasa Kalajdzic ruining any hopes Stuttgart might have had of building on an excellent first season back in the Bundesliga. 

But as the clock struck 94 on Saturday afternoon, Konstantinos Mavrapanos gambled on a loose ball and undid all their good work, committing the most needless of fouls in the dying seconds.

Eduard Lowen’s well-taken penalty, with almost the final kick of the game, denied Stuttgart their first win in eight games. 

“We’re very disappointed about the result,” sighed highly-rated head coach Matarazzo (BuliNews).

“The team produced a good performance. But, unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the second goal and then conceded the equaliser through an unfortunate penalty.” 

The most dissatisfying of draws leaves Stuttgart 17^th in an 18-team league, five points adrift of survival. And, given the smattering of exciting young talent making up Matarazzo’s squad, relegation could pave the way for an exodus. 

Is Borna Sosa on his way to the Premier League?

Silas and Kalajdzic have their fair share of admirers across Europe. Arsenal loanee Mavropanos was linked with West Ham and Newcastle recently.

And while Stuttgart managed to hang onto Borna Sosa amid interest from Leeds United last summer, history looks very unlikely to repeat itself given the club’s current predicament. 

According to BILD reporter Christian Falk, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham Hotspur and Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are already weighing up offers for the £25 million-rated Croatia international.

A swashbuckling left-back famed for his deadly delivery – Sosa’s remarkable accuracy have led to comparisons with none other than David Beckham – the 24-year-old assist-machine is tailor-made for Conte’s 3-5-2 formation. 

Particularly if, as some reports have suggested, Real Madrid are set to exercise the buyback clause in Sergio Reguilon’s contract. 

Even if Stuttgart do survive, keeping Sosa for another year appears to be beyond them. If they tumble down the trapdoor, however, it will be nothing short of a foregone conclusion.