Christian Streich has admitted that Freiburg may be forced to listen to offers for Tottenham, West Ham and Leeds United target Robin Koch, while speaking to Sky Sports’ ‘Alone at Home’ programme.
The Bundesliga may be on its way back to our TV screens this weekend, but the long-awaited return of arguably Europe’s most exciting domestic competition might still come a little too late for club’s of Freiburg’s modest stature.
The perennial underachievers have already been hit hard in the pocket by the global health crisis and, with fans unlikely to be seen at the Schwarzwald Stadium until the turn of the year, the mid-table outfit have to sell a star player or two in order to offset the financial losses.
And that opens the door for a German international centre-back to make the move across the Channel.
West Ham have been linked via The Star while London rivals Tottenham are also interested (AreaNapoli), with Koch’s price-tag allegedly dropping to around £11 million in recent weeks (O Jogo).
In an ideal world, long-serving coach Streich would love to keep Koch around, but the decision may be taken out of his hands.
“At the moment, I can’t say whether Robin will play for another club next year. No player is not for sale, we can’t afford (to say) that,” says the charismatic tactician, as translated by Fussball News.
“We are a club which rely on transfer proceeds. The most important thing for us is that we are financially healthy.”
Speaking to the Yorkshire Evening Post earlier this year, Leeds’ director of football Victor Orta admitted that Koch was on his radar; although he was at pains to point out that a deal to bring the German international to Elland Road would depend solely on whether promotion was achieved.
With the entire season up in the air right now, lord knows what division Leeds will be playing in by the time the 2020/21 campaign kicks off.
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