English clubs pushing prices up – Schalke boss

Berlin (AFP) – The financial strength of Premier League clubs is driving up transfer prices in Germany, according to Schalke’s sports director Christian Heidel, who recently sold Leroy Sane to Manchester City.

The transfer budgets of England’s top clubs have grown considerably since the English League’s television rights were sold in 2015 to Sky and BT in the United Kingdom for a massive £5.14bn (6.9 billion euros) for three seasons.

Heidel says the knock-on effect of the influx of cash in England has certainly been felt in Germany.

“If English managers are on the phone, then the (transfer) sums are automatically higher,” Heidel said on a talkshow for magazine Kicker.

“If the negotiations are within Germany, then it is often difficult to exclude the higher sums from England.”

Heidel speaks from experience.

Earlier this month, the Royal Blues boss was involved in selling Germany winger Sane, 20, to City for a reported £37 million ($48m, 43m euros).

With additional fees, the figure could rise to fifty million for a player who had made just 47 Bundesliga appearances and played only 11 minutes of Euro 2016 before City signed him.

“His market price can certainly be justified, we would have liked to have had 60 or 70 million for him,” Heidel said about Sane.

The Schalke boss said negotiations with City “started at 30 million, but the player would not have gone for that sum, because obviously we know how the market works in England.”

Schalke’s arch-rivals Borussia Dortmund also profited from selling players to their Premier League rivals.

Manchester United signed Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Gundogan joined Manchester City, which reportedly profited Dortmund more than 70 million euros for both transfers.

“All in all, not many stars from Germany transfer to England, but we have to make sure the money stays in Germany,” said Heidel, suggesting clubs in Germany’s top flight resist the urge to spend the cash on overseas talent.