Everton
Everton’s deal for Merlin Röhl this summer has been celebrated at the midfielder’s former club FC Ingolstadt, thanks to some clever work from former managing director Dietmar Beiersdorfer.
BILD cover him and the Everton transfer today, which has ended up benefitting the German side greatly.
Everton deal celebrated
The newspaper covers the Toffees upcoming trip to Hamburg, where they will take on HSV Hamburg in a friendly on Saturday. They then bring up an interesting link between the two clubs, thanks to Beiersdorfer.
He’s a former HSV board member but from 2021 to 2026 was the managing director of sports at Ingolstadt. During that period, he sold Merlin Röhl to SC Freiburg in 2021, securing a €3m fee at the time.
That alone was seen as a major coup at the time for the third-division club but that’s not all. Beiersdorfer had also negotiated a ‘lucrative share of any future resale’.
So, when Everton made Röhl’s loan move permanent this summer for €25m, Ingolstadt pocketed again. According to BILD, they earned around €6.7m from the transfer. It was a ‘multi-million-Euro coup’ for the club and Beiersdorfer.
He had already been nicknamed “Dukaten-Didi” (Money-Making Didi) among acquaintances due to the lucrative sales he orchestrated while at HSV. They included Rafael van der Vaart to Real Madrid for €15m and Nigel de Jong to Manchester City for €18m among the highlights.
Now Merlin Röhl’s move to Everton can be added to his list of career highlights. Indeed, he is presumably hoping those highlights are being shared far and wide as he currently searches for his next role in football.
Everton, meanwhile, travel to Hamburg on Saturday with Röhl a permanent part of the squad following his move this summer. He’ll be looking to prove his worth to David Moyes after a disappointing first season on Merseyside.