Hamburg drop pursuit of Southampton’s Armel Bella-Kotchap | OneFootball

The Hamburger Morgenpost reports that Southampton defender Armel Bella-Kotchap’s transfer to Hamburg has fallen through. The newly-promoted Bundesliga outfit does not wish to meet Southampton’s demand for a €10m transfer fee. Attempts to work out a loan deal with the EFL Championship club also proved unsuccessful.

Bella-Kotchap’s stated desire to return to the Bundesliga may yet yield something. Borussia Mönchengladbach were also rumored to be interested in the twice-capped German international. A move to Hamburg would have nevertheless made much more sense for Bella-Kotchap.

The 23-year-old could have received the chance to accrue regular playing time in Merlin Polzin’s squad, not to mention potentially form an intriguing central defensive partnership with another German centre-back returning from a long stint abroad, Jordan Torunarigha.

The Morgenpost article notes that Hamburg shall intensify their search for another central defender over the weekend, ideally having a new introduction to present early next week. Interestingly enough, HSV have also been linked with Tottenham Hotspur centre-back Luka Vuskovic.

Luka’s elder brother Mario represented Hamburg in the 2. Bundesliga prior to becoming embroiled in his famous doping incident. A loan deal for the 18-year-old Luka, per the paper, has been officially ruled out.

GGFN | Peter Weis