West Ham United defender Konstantinos Mavropanos appears increasingly unlikely to land himself a move to Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund this summer.
It was initially reported in mid-April, before West Ham United’s relegation from the Premier League was even confirmed, that Dortmund were looking to take Mavropanos back to Germany.
The Greek giant had enjoyed a couple of highly impressive seasons at Stuttgart before his £17 million move to the London Stadium. Dortmund saw the injury-ravaged Niclas Sule announce his retirement, while Nico Schlotterbeck has a very well-documented release clause in his new contract.
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There was always likely to be at least one new centre-half at the Signal Iduna Park, then. And Sky Germany’s Florian Plettenberg felt that Konstantinos Mavropanos was set to become one of the main candidates.
However, the early weeks of the summer appear to indicate that Dortmund are moving in a very different direction.
West Ham United’s Dinos Mavropanos is not a priority for Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund have already signed ex-PSG talent Joane Gadou from Red Bull Salzburg for a reported £20 million. According to Portuguese publication Record, BVB have offered a £14.5 million package for Bastien Meupiyou as well.
The former Wolves youngster is currently at Alverca. Together, Meupiyou and an 18-year-old Gadou would represent a continuation of Dortmund’s desire to build a new spine around a core of exciting young talent, as is their trademark.
This does not mean there is no chance a bid will be arriving for Mavropanos before the summer is over. Just that, with one new centre-back in the building already and talks continuing over another, it can be presumed that West Ham’s number 15 is clearly not a priority target on the banks of the Rhine.
How much should West Ham demand for Mavropanos?
A club source told Hammers News, when those Dortmund reports emerged two months ago, that speculation may have been driven by ‘intermediaries’ anyway, looking to drum up interest in a man whose future remains very much in the balance.
“We are calm about the Mavropanos speculation,” a top West Ham spokesman explained. “This is standard practice when players are discussing new contracts and terms and often used by intermediaries to force the club’s hand on certain things.
“Everyone at the club is delighted by Mavropanos’ turnaround, not least because he is such a popular guy in the dressing room and has found it tough to establish himself since signing
“But we are calm and would question where the information is coming from given a key contact left the club some time ago now.”
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