Julian Brandt’s crazily cheap release clause of around £21.5 million is no longer valid after Bayer Leverkusen qualified for the Champions League yesterday with a fourth-placed finish in the Bundesliga.
According to the Liverpool ECHO, the release clause would only have stood had they missed out on Europe’s elite competition, meaning the price will now be much higher.
Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham are also said to be interested in the creative midfielder, who can also play out wide, so a bidding war could ensue between any interested parties.
He could also, of course, choose to stay at Leverkusen now they will be playing in the Champions League.
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Whether Brandt is a top target or not remains unclear, with no big links to players having come out at all this year, which is unusual.
Last summer, the move for Fabinho came completed out of the blue, but we knew for a long time that the likes of Alisson were targets.
No doubt Michael Edwards and Jurgen Klopp will know what they want to do. After the Champions League final, perhaps a couple of signings that have been in the pipeline will emerge.
With no European Championships or World Cup this year, perhaps there is less of a rush to get business done. Brandt, though, might just have slipped down the list of potential priorities.