Well reports from Sky say Fenerbache and Christoph Daum want Basturk. Also it mentions that we are chasing Paul Frier and Mike Hanke http://skysports.planetfootball.com/article.asp?id=172434&cpid=22 -- Olof, what do you think?
Well, Leverkusen is almost linked with every player on the market... Fact is that except Juric and Bastürk nobody has an expiring contract, some players will return from a loan deal (Daun, Donovan...) and because of that it is very improbable that new quality players will be signed (Berberovic, Krzynowek are certain). Bastürk announced to talk with Bayer in spring about a contract extension. Bayer wants to keep him, but could be questionable if he's still willing to extend given that he's only Ponte's backup this season. He's surely having several offers from Turkey, but so far he always said that he doesn't want to play there. Freier is rumoured to have signed with Dortmund and Leverkusen since years - might be something about it, might be not, difficult to say. I can also imagine that Bochum keeps him until the end of the contract in 2005. Mike Hanke is a good prospect with expiring contract. Schalke signed Ailton and wants to have Kuranyi, so Hanke must be incredibly stupid to extend his contract there. But honestly, the situation doesn't look better for him at Bayer or any other top club. He'd be well advised to sign with a mid-table club in Bundesliga with a minimum playing time option in his contract. kicker also links Bayer with Andreas Hinkel - not sure, might be a possibility for 2005 when his contract expires. At the moment they surely don't have the money to afford him.
That Hinkel kid is fantastic. Very dangerous player. So basically the story is all hype. We won't be signing anyone...unless we sell. By the way Juve wants Lucio now. What if we sold Neuville or Berbatov?
Just read that Hinkel was a playmaker since he came into Stuttgarts U17. That explains his great technical level.