Paderborn sporting director Sebastian Lange has confirmed Celtic’s offer for midfielder Mika Baur has been rejected, insisting the Bundesliga club have no intention of selling one of their key players on the cheap.
However, after securing promotion to the Bundesliga, Paderborn are determined to keep hold of one of their prized assets despite Baur entering the final year of his contract.
The transfer fee alone isn’t something that will determine if a deal goes through; it has to make sense for the club, he insisted.
Speaking to NW Sport, Lange dismissed speculation surrounding the midfielder before confirming every offer received by the club this summer has been turned down.
“It’s nonsense. I have no idea where this stuff comes from.
“Have there been offers for players during this transfer window? Yes. Are there offers right now? No. Why not? Because we rejected them all. There are sporting and financial reasons for this.
“Ultimately, we decide what is of interest to us. And everything that came in was, from a financial standpoint, of no interest to us whatsoever.”
When asked specifically about Celtic’s approach for Baur, Lange admitted the Scottish champions’ proposal was among those rejected.
“We didn’t have to think twice during this transfer window.
“There are a few players (we have received offers for). And that’s nothing unusual. There were even players involved whom you wouldn’t expect. Four to five. That includes players from the U21 squad. It’s not as if we have offers for four key players.
“I don’t want to name names, because I don’t want to spoil the market for one or two of them. For SCP, the transfer fee alone isn’t the deciding factor anyway; rather, a transfer has to make sense both financially and in sporting terms.
“We have a squad valuation that we calculate internally using a specific formula. There is a sporting value and a financial value.
“The question is: How important is the player to us, and can we actually strengthen the squad? Because only then does it really make sense to let a player go. We want to improve.
“It’s independent of any departures. We want to strengthen the squad either way. And, ideally, keep all the players—or almost all of them.
“We are no longer operating at a loss. We aim to finish the Bundesliga season with a profit, too. We are no longer dependent on transfer revenue like we were in the 2. Bundesliga. We can work with different figures.
“Our job remains to stay calm. But we are certainly noticing right now that the transfer rumor mill is starting to heat up. And that’s only going to increase. We have a long, intense period ahead of us.”
With promotion to the Bundesliga boosting Paderborn’s financial position, the German club are under far less pressure to cash in than they would have been 12 months ago.
That said, Baur’s contract expires next summer, meaning this transfer window represents Paderborn’s final opportunity to command a significant fee for the Germany Under-21 international unless they can convince him to sign an extension.
Celtic remain keen on the midfielder after agreeing personal terms, but it is now clear they will have to return with an improved offer if they are to persuade Paderborn to part with one of their most important players.
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Yep, we only have around £70m sitting in the bank, so lets continue the penny pinching and risk losing the player and, in the process, jeoparise qualification for the CL.