By Paul Gorgas
Is the long-standing misunderstanding now over? According to BZ information, the loan change from Herthas Krzysztof Piatek (27) to the Italian club Salernitana is on the home stretch. There should be agreement between the clubs about the transfer. But the deal isn’t perfect yet.
It is now up to the clubs to negotiate final details on salary and a possible purchase option. For Hertha it is primarily about saving Piatek’s mega salary (4.5 million euros basic salary/year).
The departure of the Pole would be the temporary end of a month-long change of theater. The striker, who came to Berlin from Milan in January 2020 for 24 million euros, has been at the top of Hertha’s sales list since the beginning of the transfer summer.
Although Piatek completed the entire preparation under new coach Sandro Schwarz (43), he was not in the squad for any of the four Bundesliga games. At the end of the cup in Braunschweig (9:10 a.E.) he was on the bench for 120 minutes.
Even the three Schwarz predecessors Tayfun Korkut (48), Pal Dardai (46) and Bruno Labbadia (56), who worked with Piatek, couldn’t do anything with the attacker.
The change of millions promoted by ex-coach Jürgen Klinsmann (58) became more and more of a misunderstanding. Above all, the game against the ball, which involved a lot of running work, did not suit the penalty area striker. In 58 competitive games, Piatek scored 13 times for Hertha.
Piatek still enjoys star status in Italy, where he made his breakthrough at FC Genoa. Piatek was already on loan to Florence in the second half of the season, but was not able to fully convince after a good start.
Now he wants to try again at Salernitana – and save Hertha millions!