Stuttgart updates: High price tags complicating Demirovic and Undav transfers
German transfer guru Florian Plettenberg - following up on reports emerging yesterday that VfB Stuttgart may be close to signing Augsburg striker Ermedin Demirovic - now claims that the two parties are very far apart on the subject of the transfer fee. Plettenberg claims that Augsburg want far more than the €20 million Stuttgart are willing to pay and remain perfectly keen on selling the 26-year-old to foreign clubs with deeper pockets.
Reports that a Demirovic signing may be close at hand were tied to other rumors emerging yesterday that the complex poker between the VfB and Deniz Undav's parent club of Brighton & Hove Albion Albion was getting even thornier. Stuttgart have a purchase option for the on-loan surprise star and newly minted German international, yet Brighton also have a buyback option.
George Moissidis - the Stuttgart correspondent for Germany's preeminent footballing publication - reports that the EPL side (holding all the cards) are demanding a €30 million base-transfer fee for the 27-year-old. Undav's parent club also want built-in performance bonuses that could see Undav's permanent purchase end up costing the Swabians close to €50 million.
