RB Leipzig and Wolfsburg apart in discussions for Ridle Baku | OneFootball

RB Leipzig want to strengthen their defence in January with the signing of Wolfsburg’s Ridle Baku (26), but the two clubs are €1.5m apart in their discussions.

As reported by BILD, Wolfsburg want €4m for Baku but Leipzig are only offering €2.5m, although the publication further adds that the difference isn’t a ‘great hurdle’ and that an agreement is likely to be reached.

This comes after Baku rejected an offer from Wolfsburg to extend his contract beyond the summer, with a departure from the Volkswagen Arena beckoning as VfL do not want to lose the player on a free transfer in the summer and would instead prefer to cash in on the German defender who joined the club for €10m in October 2020.

A potential stumbling block would be that Ralph Hasenhüttl, formerly of Leipzig, has used Baku in every Bundesliga game this season and wants to keep the 26-year-old for as long as possible, but that may not be entirely possible.

Should Leipzig miss out on Baku, another option is RB Salzburg’s Amar Dedić (22), but the Bosnia and Herzegovina international is the more expensive of the two, valued at around €15m with a contract at the Austrian club until 2027.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder