Premier League clubs have been warned against signing Julian Brandt as a free agent this summer.
The 29-year-old, who turns 30 in May, will leave Borussia Dortmund when his current contract expires at the end of the season.
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The 48-year-old German international, who has been a central figure at Signal Iduna Park for seven years, has mutually agreed to part ways with Dortmund.
Brandt is a long-standing Premier League target, as he was famously the player Jurgen Klopp favored for Liverpool in 2017 before the club’s data team successfully backed Mohamed Salah instead.
Ironically, the German is now said to have caught the attention of the Reds’ Merseyside rivals Everton and Aston Villa.
However, European football expert Andy Brassell told The Pitch Prospect.com that there were massive warning signs for potential English suitors.
News about the transfer of Julian Brandt
“We know Villa were interested in Julian Brandt before,” said Brassell, a regular at Trans Europe Express.
“But if you already have it [Emi] Buendia and if you already have Morgan Rogers and John McGinn, I don’t really know why you would want Julian Brandt. OK, he has a free plan, I understand that.
“But is this someone who has an absolutely enormous salary, is 30 years old and has never played in the Premier League before?”
“These are all big warning signs for me.
“And I think the difficulty for Brandt, from his point of view, is that on the one hand he has a really good CV.
“He’s still two games short of playing 300 games for Dortmund, but there was always the feeling in Dortmund that he couldn’t just do a little more?”
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Statistics from Julian Brandt
This season, with six goals and three assists, the attacker is just one goal contribution away from reaching double-digit figures in the Bundesliga.
But Brassell added: “He just lacks that certain something to make him the absolute elite.”
“We know he is capable of excellence and excellence in big Champions League games.”
“But the fact is that Dortmund have made enough decisions, and for good reason, because it is of course a mutual decision.”
“That is the way it is presented, but they are not desperately unhappy about walking away from an €8m (£6.9m) a year wage.”
“And if you think that Dortmund are on the verge of a bit of a reset, then they want to differentiate themselves from a pretty old team, and what they have been is a bench for almost elite players who demand absolutely gigantic salaries.”
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“The amount of salary they make from losing some of these guys and if they also lose Karim Adeyemi is significant.”
“And they will be able to do a complete remodel and be much healthier financially, which is what they have wanted for a long time.”
“The reality is that Brandt is brilliant at his best. He could decide any game.”
“The other part of the reality is that he hasn’t been consistent enough to get another club to buy him or to get Dortmund to keep paying his absolutely enormous salary.”
“Maybe there’s a Premier League club that’s catching up, but at 30? I don’t think there’s that many competitors out there.”
“And of course the question arises, where do you place him in the team? Because actually he’s probably an 8 or a 10, even though he’s flirted with playing on the wing before.”
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“But do you give a guy like that, who has never played in the Premier League and is a bit inconsistent, the key to the team?”
“I don’t know if you do.”