Disservice from the transfer flop! Are Eintracht Frankfurt set to miss out on €20 million?
Elye Wahi has long had no future at Eintracht Frankfurt. SGE were reportedly presented with lucrative offers for the striker, but he is said to have turned them down himself.
According to Absolut Fussball, Wahi recently turned down two extremely lucrative offers from the Premier League and Serie A that would have brought Eintracht around €20 million. Eintracht paid €26 million to Olympique Marseille for him a year and a half ago, but got back only a meagre one goal in 25 competitive appearances.
Those disappointing displays even brought loud whistles from the Frankfurt crowd at times, and Wahi then got the chance to prove himself again on loan at OGC Nice. He eventually kept the club up with two goals in the second leg of the play-off against Saint-Etienne.
Yet in the second half of the season, the 23-year-old had already shown that he should not be judged solely on the basis of his extremely unfortunate spell in Frankfurt. In 18 league and cup matches, Wahi scored seven times and set up two goals. A few days before the start of the play-off, he lost the cup final 3-1 to Lens with Nice.
OGC Nice want to loan Wahi again - arrest shortly before the World Cup
His spell in southern France helped the Ivory Coast international and World Cup participant rediscover his old strength, and the report says he now absolutely wants to join Nice on a permanent basis. However, OGC want another loan with a subsequent option to buy, while SGE want to get rid of Wahi for good. There is already said to be an agreement on the terms between the striker and Nice.
During the World Cup in the summer in the USA, Canada and Mexico, The Athletic revealed that Wahi had been briefly arrested two weeks before the start of the tournament on suspicion of match-fixing. Wahi is said to have deliberately provoked a yellow card on the final matchday against Metz.
"We can confirm that a 23-year-old footballer playing in French Ligue 1 was arrested on 29 May as part of an investigation by the Marseille public prosecutor's office on suspicion of organised fraud, organised corruption in sport, handling the proceeds of criminal offences and money laundering," a spokesperson for the Marseille public prosecutor's office was quoted as saying by The Athletic at the time.
Comparison with Lionel Messi: Wahi settles scores with Eintracht Frankfurt
From SGE's point of view, there were fears afterwards that the number of interested clubs would be limited because of the scandal, which makes Wahi's rejection of the lucrative offers look even more unfortunate. However, the suspicions against Wahi are now said to have been cleared up.
Wahi himself made it clear in an interview with L'Equipe in May that he no longer has much desire to stay in Frankfurt. "In Germany I discovered a different world without speaking the language. I had four starts in a year and a few brief appearances: even if your name is Lionel Messi, you need time to show your qualities," said Wahi.
