From BZ/dpa
The capital club should receive ten million euros plus bonuses for the 25-year-old top earner.
After months of transfer speculation, Dodi Lukebakio is leaving Hertha BSC for Spain. As the Berliners announced on Thursday, the 25-year-old is moving to first division side FC Sevilla.
According to media reports, the financially troubled club should receive around ten million euros plus bonuses as a transfer fee. As usual, no official information was given.
Lukebakio is said to have been one of the top earners among Berliners. Hertha had long announced that they wanted to give up the offensive player and, according to sports director Benjamin Weber, was in constant contact with Lukebakio and his advisor.
The Belgian had not been in the squad for the club’s previous competitive games either. “Dodi’s footballing qualities are undisputed. But it is also true that everyone involved has been aware since the beginning of the season that our common path will end,” sports director Benjamin Weber was quoted as saying in the statement.
Lukebakio has long focused on the Premier League
For a long time it looked like the Belgian would join Burnley FC in the Premier League. Now Seville won the race. The transfer brings Hertha important millions for the financial restructuring. It is possible that the Bundesliga relegated team, who is also currently struggling in league two, now have minimal scope for urgently needed reinforcements.
The rumored preferred candidate for defensive midfield, ex-Leipziger Diego Demme from Italian champions SSC Naples, is said to have canceled the club, according to media reports.
Lukebakio moved to Berlin from the English football club FC Watford in 2019 and was loaned to VfL Wolfsburg in the 2021/22 season. Last season he was Hertha’s top scorer in the league (eleven goals). Like Hertha, Sevilla belongs to the network of the investor 777 Partners.