The Hamburger Abendblatt reports that FC St. Pauli’s pursuit of recent Kaiserslautern standout Daisuke Yokota has stalled. This despite the fact that the player himself very much wishes to move to the Bundesliga outfit and even revealed that he had taken a recent trip to Hamburg’s Alster lakes in an instagram post. The German paper claims that Yokota’s parent club KAA Gent and the Kiezkicker are still haggling over the purchase price.
Yokota’s move to St. Pauli very much appeared to be a certainty just a few days ago. The Abendblatt nevertheless reports that Yokota still hasn’t undergone his club medical despite being in the city. Apparently, Yokota’s Belgian parent club seeks more than the €2.5m tendered by the Hamburg-based club.
It may very well be the case that Gent – knowing full well that St. Pauli are flush with cash following the record sale of Philipp Treu to Freiburg – feel they can squeeze some more money out of their German counterparts. Yokota’s reported purchase clause whilst he was on loan in Lautern was €4m.
The Abendblatt quotes a senior figure in the Gent front office as saying “the deal is off.“
No other major German footballing media sources are corroborating that information at this time.
GGFN | Peter Weis
