Hoffenheim chief executive Peter Rettig has revealed that Roberto Firmino, a player thought to be on the transfer wishlist for City this summer, could easily leave the club this summer, and maybe even leave the Bundesliga at the same time. Firmino has been linked with a move to City for some weeks, after impressing for Hoffenheim this season.
Talking in an interview with BILD, Rettig said “I don’t rule out that he’ll stay at Hoffenheim, and I also don’t rule out that he’ll stay in Bundesliga.”
“But basically you have to expect a transfer abroad.”
Since the summer of 2013, Firmino has scored 24 goals for Hoffenheim, with many of them coming in the league. He scored twice as many last season (16) as he did this year (8), but that hasn’t put off interest from some of England and Europe’s biggest clubs in the coming window.
Rettig also said that he believed a fee of £21 million for the Brazilian – which is what has been rumoured in the press – wouldn’t be “unrealistic”. It remains to be seen whether clubs want to pay that, but if they think he has the potential to win them titles then clubs like City may well already be queuing up to make a bid for him.
