Manchester City's Ko Itakura is set to join Schalke 04 on a season-long loan, with the 2. Bundesliga side reportedly having an option to purchase the central defender at the end of the season for a price between £3.4million and £5million.
Reports first emerged from Sky Sport Germany's Max Bielefeld, who revealed that Itakura is due to fly to Germany tomorrow for his medical and contract signing, with City and Schalke having agreed on a loan deal with an option to buy for €4million (£3.4m).
Ben Ransom of Sky Sports soon followed the report, confirming the information presented by his colleague in Germany, but differing on the value of the purchase option set to be included for the end of the season – reporting the value as being £5million.
Patrick Berger of SPORT1 in Germany then confirmed the earlier report from Bielefeld regarding the €4million purchase option, adding that only the final details had to be clarified for the transfer.
This would appear to be a classic case of each side reporting more favourable terms for themselves – Schalke sources informing journalists of a more favourable deal on their behalf, while City sources do the same with journalists in England.
We saw a similar situation last week when Ivan Ilic completed his permanent transfer to Hellas Verona in Serie A, with journalists in Italy like Gianluca Di Marzio reporting the fee as being around €7.5million (roughly £6.4million), while journalists in England, like Jack Gaughan, report the fee as potentially rising to £8.5million.
City included a buy-back option in the deal that took Ilic to Italy on a permanent basis, and they also included a 25% sell-on clause in the deal, according to Mike Minay of BBC Sport Manchester.
In the cases of Itakura and Ilic, City sources have probably provided fees that include the bonuses, while the clubs acquiring the players have likely informed sources of the basic fee – this is quite common to see in the world of transfer reporting.
Itakura's City contract is set to expire next summer, according to Transfermarkt, so the Premier League champions have likely extended his contract, with Schalke having an option to buy the player next summer.
Itakura was linked with a move to Scottish Premier League side Celtic, who, according to Anthony Joseph of Sky Sports, were watching the 24-year-old at the Tokyo Olympic Games over the summer.
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Written by: @NA1907_
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