Brazilian rejected transfer change
©IMAGO
Transfer negotiations can be tough, lengthy and full of stumbling blocks. Professionals sometimes want to force their move to their dream club and in order to do so they risk a lot of trouble with their current employer, lose credit with the fans or cause astonishment among their superiors. Transfermarkt looks at transfers in the past that were characterized by loud background noise. This time in focus: The move of Werder Bremen’s successful duo Aílton and Mladen Krstajic to rivals FC Schalke 04, which was accompanied by poison arrows.
When Schalke used Bremen several times in the early 2000s, not only those in charge and fans of the Green-Whites were angry, but also Transfermarkt founder and Werder supporter Matthias Seidel, who quickly removed the Knappen’s profile from his side and caused an uproar. Two decades later, the trouble has long been forgotten, Seidel and the Royal Blues also made peace – in the fall of 2003 the world looked completely different.
SVW swept through the Bundesliga as league leaders in 2003/04 and were even supposed to win the double at the end of a brilliant season, for which defense chief Mladen Krstajic and later top scorer Aílton were also responsible. The experienced professionals were the bulwark and heart of a homogeneous team that put fear into the competition. What would happen then? Schalke and its powerful manager Rudi Assauer didn’t want to sit idly by and took action. It was first announced at the beginning of October 2003 that 29-year-old Krstajic would be signed on a free transfer at the end of the season, and a day later it was clear that Aílton (30) would also be moving to Gelsenkirchen for free. A blow right in the face of Bremen. The Serbian Krstajic committed to S04 for four years, his Brazilian teammate for two years plus an option. “Schalke plunders league leaders Werder,” headlined “Der Spiegel”.
“I don’t think the way this change happened was fair. It’s a bitter blow for the fans and also for us,” said Werder’s sporting director Klaus Allofs, commenting on the departures. “We are of course disappointed about that, but also about Schalke’s approach. There have been different rules in the past, especially when Schalke manager Rudi Assauer worked with Werder Bremen.” The Royal Blues’ creator had spent many years as a player and manager at Werder and, according to Bremer’s account, failed to inform his former club before the deal was concluded. Werder’s CEO Jürgen L. Born explained: “There were friendships. There is an interpersonal relationship between Dr. Böhmert (head of the supervisory board; editor) and Assauer that has lasted for 30 years. And then it is no way to sit in our stadium on Sunday, drink the beers for free, pick the players and then announce the matter in this way.”
Mladen Krstajic (l.) and Aílton appeared together 131 times for Werder Bremen and were a sensational double winner in 2004
The later Bremen master coach Thomas Schaaf revealed: “I feel a tremendous anger rising within me.” And: “It’s absolutely disappointing what’s going on here. We’re all shocked, the fans, the club. You see what could be possible with this team in the long term, and then two top performers break away.” Because: “It’s frustrating, you train people and then the stupid money comes.” Schalke’s salary dimensions were a lot too big for the Weser club, for whom it wasn’t enough to go “to the limit of what was possible” (Allofs). “I negotiated with Werder, but they didn’t offer me what I was worth, after all I have to think about my family,” Aílton revealed at a press conference. A salary of between 4 million and 4.5 million euros was said to have been possible for the photographer at Schalke. Krstajic offered a million euros more than Bremen could offer. “In terms of its possibilities, Schalke can be compared to very few clubs in the league. For me, it is an absolute top address,” said Aílton, explaining his decision.
Aílton and Krstajic poached: Werder are angry, Schalke are fighting back
“We have to explain to the fans and make it clear to the players that things will continue. There is a bitter aftertaste when it comes to transfers,” said Allofs. Schaaf warned in the direction of the two painful departures: “They are paid by us and must not let themselves down now.” The mission was clearly accomplished with the championship and the cup win.
Schalke rejected the accusations of angry competition. “That’s laughable. We behaved fairly and decently and didn’t buy the players out of current contracts. Bremen were informed and then the transfers were made public,” replied Assauer. The joy about the double reinforcement from the north prevailed anyway. “Aílton is exactly the man who fits our requirements profile and he is even more dangerous than Emile Mpenza.” The fast Belgian left the club for Liège in the summer.
Coach Jupp Heynckes also said excitedly: “Our intention is to bring more quality and more competition into the squad. We have succeeded. Aílton is one of the best strikers in the Bundesliga and has continuously proven his class in recent years.” The 34-year-old Austrian no-name attacker Edi Glieder had not lived up to expectations.
It was certainly not the first time that Schalke found suitable new signings on the Weser: in 2002, goalkeeper Frank Rost changed sides for 6.25 million euros, and in 1998 it was keeper Oliver Reck for 700,000 euros.
Neither Krstajic nor Aílton found the move away from Bremen easy. “When Mladen told me that he was making this change, there were tears in his eyes,” said Bremen coach Schaaf in the “Sportschau” podcast “The Werder Fairy Tale 2004”. And the attacker would have preferred to have made a different decision in retrospect. “The season wasn’t over yet when Aílton tried everything again to cancel his signature at Schalke. But of course that was no longer possible,” revealed manager Allofs.
A drama developed, but without a happy ending. According to Werder boss Born, Aílton presented himself to him, after which Born picked up the phone and told Assauer about Aílton’s doubts. “If someone doesn’t want to go to Schalke, they don’t have to go,” the Schalke boss was quoted as saying. So there’s still a back door for the Brazilian? “We told him: ‘You can have our old contract and we’ll do so much on top of it, are you okay with that?'” revealed Born. Aílton apparently gave his consent and Assauer would also have agreed to the contract being terminated. But the striker reportedly hesitated for too long. Born explained: “Then I said: ‘If you don’t sign the contract within two days, you can buy a moped and drive to Schalke.'” The U-turn didn’t happen. Because Aílton stood by his yes to Schalke. “My father always told me: ‘No matter how prominent you are, no matter how full your account is – one man, one word.'” Aílton’s Schalke contract could possibly have been declared invalid because certain requirements were not met, at least former Werder managing director Manfred Müller claimed.
The coach and his goalscorer: Thomas Schaaf (l.) used Aílton 204 times at Werder Bremen, the Brazilian thanked the trust with 104 goals and 45 assists
The anger over both transfers was so great that even the German Football League looked into the case and wanted to investigate Schalke. “We have received a letter from the DFL. The league wants information about the process and we will be very happy to provide information,” said Bremen spokesman Michael Rudolph. Accordingly, S04 should have informed Werder at the beginning of the contractual negotiations. “That definitely didn’t happen in the Ailton case, which is why our reactions were so strong,” said SVW sports director Allofs. Schalke’s spokesman Gerd Voss remained relaxed and emphasized: “We let it happen to us. We behaved correctly.” And according to Assauer, it would have been “negligent of us not to try to find these players” anyway. But it was only after a hint from the players’ agents that the matter became concrete: “The players’ agents had gone to the market, and so we also got wind of it. We acted quickly and made everything clear. We then informed the club, the DFB and the DFL.” Assauer couldn’t understand the additional cards from Bremen because “I’ve already lost players.”
Schalke coach Heynckes: Werder Bremen’s complaints “amateurish”
S04 coach Heynckes had no understanding for the complaining from the north, saying in a “Welt” interview: “I can’t understand that, it’s even amateurish. Both players were on the market. It’s not the case that we contacted the players, but they were offered to us by their agents.” From an “emotional point of view” he could understand the SVW’s complaints. “On the other hand, the gentlemen in Bremen know just as much as we do that these were completely normal transfers. In addition, Werder had a long time to extend both of them. That’s why I don’t think Bremen can be upset.” There can be no question of excessively high salaries at Schalke. “I can only laugh at the numbers that we hear from Bremen. No utopian salaries are paid in Schalke,” Heynckes made clear.
After the scandal between Werder Bremen and Schalke, managers Klaus Allofs (l.) and Rudi Assauer shook hands in January 2005
Krstajic’s time at Schalke was more lasting than Aílton’s; the defender played 183 games from 2004 to 2009, in which he scored nine goals and provided six assists – after which he ended his career at Partizan Belgrade. Aílton moved on to Besiktas after just one year with 20 goals (six assists) in 44 games, but he never settled down anywhere, as the collection of short chapters in Istanbul, Hamburg, Belgrade, Zurich, Donetsk, Altach, Campina Grande, Chongqing, Uerdingen, Oberneuland, Americana and Bingen document. “If I hadn’t moved so hastily from Schalke to Istanbul in July 2005, my career would certainly have been different and, above all, better,” said Aílton in 2020. Or ideally not from Werder to Schalke at all?
Note: This article first appeared on Transfermarkt in July 2025 and has now been published again.