Transfer News: Player Too Expensive for Most Clubs

” href=”https://www.fcupdate.nl/voetballers/kodai-sano”>We would like to take over Kodai Sano from NEC, but the question is whether that will actually work. Carlos Aalbers hints that the Nijmegen team wants to get a significant amount for the midfielder.

Sano came over from Fagiano Okayama in the summer of 2023 and has become an important pillar at NEC. He still has a contract until mid-2028, which gives the Gelderlanders a good negotiating position. The talent of 22 is highly coveted: in addition to Feyenoord and PSV, there is also Sano from Germany. For example, Sano’s brother plays at 1. FSV Mainz 05 and Mainz would like to have them under contract together. Furthermore, scouts from clubs such as Chelsea, Borrusia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Ajax were in the stands during the last home games of the season.

This presents a difficult dilemma for director of player affairs Aalbers: should NEC sell Sano now that his value is extremely high, or does Nijmegen want to do everything they can to reach European football? But other motivations must also be taken into account, Aalbers said in conversation with The Gelderlander. “After all, an amount may be put on the table with which we can pay for the renovation of De Goffert and with a new stadium we can really make big steps. On the other hand: if we have another half of the season like this, the players will also be worth a fortune next summer. If we stay fourth, we will write history and that is what we do it for.”

Huge price tag Sano

Aalbers is also asked how likely he thinks it is that Sano will leave the club this winter. “I’m not a gambler. We have a nice price tag in mind for Sano.” The asking price will not be cheap; Previously this was estimated at fifteen to twenty million euros. “I’m not going to say what amount, but I think most clubs cannot pay him,” Aalbers continues.

“If clubs want to buy a basic player from us, they have to pay extra, because it is halfway through the season and we are working on something great. I do not believe that all ambitions should be jettisoned due to the loss of one player, but we do have a number of decisive players and Sano is one of them. He is becoming a top player in everything. So I see him immediately going to the top via NEC.” Aalbers hopes to finish the season with Sano and thinks that a fourth place is possible. “However, the objective remains to qualify for the play-offs for European football. You depend on so many factors,” concludes the realistic director of football affairs.