Christoph Baumgartner has responded to reports linking him with a switch to either Liverpool or Manchester United, appearing to confirm his contentment with remaining at Hoffenheim.
The 21-year-old was briefly rumoured to be a target for the Reds’ recruitment team, with the club said to be searching for a potential replacement for former No.5 Gini Wijnaldum.
“It is, of course, better if there are positive rumours instead of negative ones,” the Austria international was quoted as saying by Sport 1 (via Sport Witness).
“But I feel very comfortable here and can develop well here. In football, you can never say 1000 per cent of what happens within a few months – but I am very happy here and see a great opportunity here to develop myself and the team.
“Last year, I slipped into a role that I really like and that I can use to develop personally.
“I want to hold on to that and want to keep pushing the gas with the team so that we can play a good season and attack again at the top.”
Though the midfielder left the door slightly ajar when it comes to his future, it would seem that an exit from the Bundesliga this summer is unlikely.
At his current age, we can certainly respect the desire to pursue opportunities for development, with the player getting more regular minutes at Hoffenheim than a European heavyweight may be prepared to hand him initially.
With Liverpool having passed the halfway mark for the target of £60m in player sales, with Xherdan Shaqiri deemed likely to next face the transfer chop, it’s possible that we could soon look to bring in a new face.
Considering how valuable Wijnaldum was to Jurgen Klopp, with the Dutch international the only midfielder not to miss a single league game last term, we’d imagine that securing a new midfielder would be the priority for Michael Edwards and co.