In a conversation with Sport Bild’s Christian Falk, Southampton center-back Armel Bella-Kotchap talks about how close he was to moving back to Germany, thanks to interest from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund back in the summer of 2023.
Bella-Kotchap ultimately went to PSV Eindhoven on a loan in 2023, but it sounds like he was very close to a move to Bavaria.
“Interest from Bayern and Dortmund makes every player proud. Things were even more concrete with Bayern. I had already spoken to Marco Neppe, the technical director of FC Bayern at the time. In the end, the move to FC Bayern fell through at the last minute because there was no agreement with Southampton. But we had an agreement in principle at the time,” Bella-Kotchap said (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “Once you’ve had the chance to play for such top clubs, it’s clear that you’ll continue to dream about it. I want to perform well again soon so that I’ll be interesting to clubs like Bayern and Dortmund again.”
At 23-years-old, Bella-Kotchap could end up Bayern Munich’s radar again at some point. The summer transfer in 2025 should see the Bavarians chasing a complimentary center-back to team with Dayot Upamecano and Kim Min-jae.
Will Bella-Kotchap be on the club’s wish list?
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