Bayer Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes has revealed he does not expect Barcelona and Bayern Munich target Jonathan Tah to leave before Friday’s summer transfer window deadline.
Recent speculation had suggested Barca would attempt to swoop for the Bundesliga title winner as a replacement for Eric Garcia, who could be allowed to leave Catalonia, with €20m mooted as a potential transfer fee for the 28-year-old.
However, speaking on Wednesday, Rolfes insisted he has had no calls regarding a sale despite Tah entering the final year of his contract and being keen to leave.
He said: “I’m expecting Jonathan Tah to stay. I had no call with Bayern or Barca recently. There are no news at all regarding a deal, so I expect him to stay.”
Bayern had been touted as a potential landing spot for the Germany international, but club director Max Eberl has claimed the terms of the deal never appealed to the Bavarian outfit.
He revealed: “The transfer period is a very intensive phase. We’re not going to sign any more players. We are very happy with the roster and want to achieve the maximum success.
“Bayern Munich is a club that has to make decisions. When we’re not ready to pay a certain sum, then we won’t pay it. Even if the supervisory board had approved it, but if we felt that it wasn’t appropriate, then we won’t do it. I don’t care about what was written. I’ve always said that as long as there’s expenditure, there has to be income.
“Leverkusen gave us a deadline three weeks ago and told us: ‘Listen, you have to pay this amount by then.’ And I wrote to Simon Rolfes: ‘Simon, thank you for the deadline, thank you for the amount you told us. But we can’t agree.’ And that was the end of the negotiations. That was three and a half weeks ago. And that’s the real story behind this transfer.
“Of course, I asked again now, in case we made a sale and had some money available, if we could do it then. A lot of ‘ifs’. But no, it’s not going to happen.”
The centre-back’s agent, Pini Zahavi, has also suggested Leverkusen are unfairly holding out for a higher transfer fee.
“There have been several offers in recent weeks, all of which have been rejected despite his desire to leave,” he alleged. “We want to avoid a player as deserving as Jona leaving the club for free next summer.
“That’s why we hope that we can find a solution in the short term that all parties can be happy with in the end.”
