As the club announced on Tuesday, the option to buy the 25-year-old Japanese player, who was loaned out from Manchester City in the summer of 2021, will “after careful consideration” not pulled.
“In terms of sport, there are no two opinions: Ko was one of the outstanding players last season”said Schalke’s sporting director Rouven Schröder. “We would have liked to see him as part of our Bundesliga team, but unfortunately this was not possible for financial reasons.”
The financial volume of the purchase is “simply too big and would have exceeded our carefully set framework”, said Schroeder. The association wanted to continue to only spend the money that was available.
