The HSV beckons an unexpected additional payment in the millions
Amadou Onana (r), here in the game against Paderborn, playing for HSV
Source: dpa-infocom GmbH
At HSV, Amadou Onana was not particularly noticeable, often he only ended up on the bench. Then the young professional moved to France and hit the ground running – and another move could bring a lot of money into the Hamburg coffers.
In the history of football there are bad signings and dream sales – and many players who only find their best form when they have left HSV. Amadou Onana belongs in this category, although as a very young player he was on the pitch for the second division club exactly 25 times in the 2020/2021 season, including 14 games in the starting XI, without attracting much attention. Even then, there was great joy when the Belgian-Senegalese midfielder was sold to OSC Lille in France for seven million euros.
Onana is now a Belgian international and is very popular, which is why HSV is currently monitoring the transfer market for this personality very closely. English Premier League club West Ham United are reportedly looking to sign Onana. If the deal goes through, the Hamburgers could get 20 percent of the difference to the proceeds at the time, because in addition to the seven million transfer fee, a participation in the resale was also agreed with the change in 2021.
West Ham are said to have upped their offer to €38m. The HSV could collect 6.2 million euros. It is questionable whether the French are satisfied with the offer from London. According to the English media, the Ligue 1 club even demanded 50 million pounds (59 million euros) for the Belgian international, which HSV would certainly like even more as the beneficiary. A sum of this magnitude would be more than appropriate for the club, which is not even able to finance the conversion of the stadium for the EM 2024 – although it has already received money for it from the city of Hamburg.
The opening game is being worked on
But in addition to this promise, the season opener in Braunschweig was also worked up on Monday. The two HSV bosses Jonas Boldt and Thomas Wüstefeld have probably rarely been in agreement in the past few weeks. With the same worried expression, the quarreling board members sat next to each other in Braunschweig’s Eintracht Stadium and trembled. Yes, HSV happily won its first game 2-0 (0-0). But it certainly cannot be deduced from this appearance that in the new season of the 2nd Bundesliga he is the only top player among the co-favorites. “It was clear that we wouldn’t just march through like that,” said Robert Glatzel, who scored twice.
The benevolent view of this season opener was: “None of us was satisfied. But that’s our quality, that we don’t get hectic, but stay calm,” said sporting director Boldt.
There are at least two things you shouldn’t rely on in Hamburg in this promotion-or-nothing season: that the conflict between Boldt and CFO Wüstefeld can be completely separated from the team and what’s happening on the field. Coach Tim Walter has already positioned himself too clearly for Boldt. And the supervisory board has done too little in recent weeks to resolve this conflict.
Only two newcomers in the starting XI
And then there is the assessment that it is only an advantage if the most ambitious team in the league is also the most well-rehearsed. Only two newcomers – Laszlo Benes and Ransford-Yeboah Königsdörffer – started on the pitch on Sunday. But even the supposedly weakest northern rival from Braunschweig, who has been relegated from the second division three times since 2018 and has been promoted again twice, had adapted perfectly to HSV. Winning the ball in their own half, fast play forward: Hamburg ran after the same counterattacks for an hour. Maybe you were “too self-confident” after the 5: 1 in the preparation against FC Basel, said Glatzel.
