Financial concessions: are Borussia Dortmund prepared to accept a multi-million loss for the transfer of their desired player?
Giannis Konstantelias is on the verge of a move to Borussia Dortmund. The Greek is unlikely to come cheap for Dortmund, however.
Transfer journalist Fabrizio Romano reports that Dortmund will pay PAOK Saloniki 32 million euros for the 23-year-old, including bonuses.
The Greek club are also reportedly set to receive a 15 per cent sell-on clause. So if Konstantelias really does make a big impact at BVB and is later sold to another top club, Dortmund would in all likelihood miss out on a fee running into the millions.
Konstantelias had already travelled to Dortmund on Sunday to undergo the obligatory medical. An official announcement is still expected at some point on Monday. At BVB, Konstantelias is set to sign a four-year contract and earn 3.2 million euros net per year.
PAOK Saloniki fans protest against transfer to BVB
Resistance to the impending transfer has also come from within the PAOK Saloniki fan scene. Late on Saturday evening, the high-reach Instagram page "club_paok_gate4_official" published a statement on the transfer rumours calling for the club not to sanction a sale.
PAOK supporters had already reacted in similar fashion last year, when Konstantelias was on the verge of a move to VfB Stuttgart. At the time, the two clubs had reached an agreement on a deal worth 20 million euros before PAOK owner Ivan Savvidis unexpectedly pulled the plug on the transfer, apparently out of fear of the anger of his own fans.
Then came bizarre scenes on Sunday when he arrived in Dortmund. Konstantelias was approached by a suspected PAOK supporter and apparently had to explain his much-discussed departure from Greece. The unknown man spoke to the 23-year-old and held a mobile phone up to him. The conversation lasted more than a minute, with the Greek repeatedly speaking into the phone in his native language.
BVB see the 18-cap Greece international as an alternative to Said El Mala, whose transfer to Dortmund failed because of the repeated veto of 1. FC Köln.
