Sky Germany reports that Borussia Mönchengladbach defender Ko Itakura has a release clause in his contract worth €10-15m which is valid next summer.
Itakura’s current contract runs until 2026 and the likes of Tottenham and Liverpool have been linked to the Japanese international in recent weeks. However, Gladbach hopes that they will be able to extend Itakura’s contract beyond 2026, this could either up the price of the release clause or remove it entirely.
After a strong first season at Gladbach, Itakura’s season has been derailed by an ankle injury which caused him to miss 12 games for Gladbach.
Away from Itakura, Gladbach lacks centre-back options. With the future of Nico Elvedi in doubt and Maximilian Wöber’s loan likely to expire at the end of the season, Gladbach would be left with two senior centre-backs in Marvin Friedrich and Fabio Chiarodia.
Gladbach are in the midst of a rebuild and currently find themselves in 10th in the Bundesliga and in the quarter-finals of the DFB Pokal. The summer saw them lose several key players Lars Stindl, Marcus Thuram, Jonas Hofmann and Ramy Bensebaini.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
