Sky Germany have revealed that Wolfsburg had an offer for Hiroki Ito rejected in January by VfB Stuttgart.
The offer for the Japan international was €8 million plus Josuha Guilavogui, who Stuttgart were interested in signing in the winter as well. Stuttgart rejected the offer as they wanted more money for the 23-year-old.
Ito joined Stuttgart in 2021 from Júbilo Iwata initially on loan before completing a €400k permanent move this past summer.
Ito has played 25 times for Stuttgart this season assisting once. It made sense for Stuttgart to reject the offer for the 23-year-old as they are in the midst of a relegation battle. They currently sit 16th in the Bundesliga.
This signals that regardless of VfB staying up at the end of the season there will be an exodus of players. The futures of Borna Sosa and Konstantinos Mavropanos are also in doubt. Stuttgart will need to stay up if they are to maximise the money they make off of these players.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
