According to The Athletic, Michael Zetterer is on the verge of joining Leeds United. He is set to become the back-up to new No 1 James Trafford, who joined Leeds from Manchetser City in the summer for €47 million. The report adds that talks with SGE are at an advanced stage.
Zetterer only joined the Main club from Werder Bremen last season for €6 million, but he failed to establish himself in the long term against Kaua Santos and ultimately became the victim of a questionable high-stakes gamble by coaches Dino Toppmöller and Albert Riera.
Under both men, Zetterer was at times the No 1, only to lose that status again. At the start of the season, Kaua Santos still had to sit out because of complications following an anterior cruciate ligament rupture suffered in the previous campaign. He then replaced Zetterer between the posts, made several mistakes, was dropped to the bench and, after the turn of the year, got another chance as No 1 before another knee injury ended his season.
Eintracht Frankfurt search for a new first-choice goalkeeper after debacle
The goalkeeping position remained a political issue in Frankfurt even under the successor to the so resoundingly failed Riera. After the 7-0 hammering in the friendly against Brentford last weekend, Adi Hütter has now also lost patience and apparently wants to clear the decks. Kaua Santos made more mistakes against the Premier League club and is now set to lose the No 1 spot. There have even been growing rumours recently that Eintracht wanted to move on from him entirely and sell the Brazilian.
Zetterer’s impending move now makes that look unlikely. Even so, Eintracht are still expected to enter the goalkeeper market. Since Sunday, Noah Atubolu of Freiburg has been seen as the preferred solution.
IMAGONoah Atubolu’s transfer drama: false promises and split from agents
The 24-year-old, for his part, has endured a real drama in this transfer window, at the end of which he recently split from his agency and is still searching for a new club. Atubolu no longer has a future in Breisgau after, driven by his advisers, he rejected a contract extension beyond 2027 in May to underline his desire to move after a strong season.
The intended destination was the Premier League, to a club with European ambitions. Aston Villa were repeatedly mentioned as a possible landing spot. But Emiliano Martinez remained the No 1 there and, apart from the promoted sides Hull City and Coventry, there has so far reportedly been no further concrete interest from England.
Even so, Atubolu’s advisers are said to have suggested to the German goalkeeper that he was still a hot transfer target for clubs such as Borussia Dortmund, AC Milan or Aston Villa if the established No 1 at those clubs were to leave. As expected, that still had not happened by today, ten days before the end of the transfer window.
With Atubolu’s situation going nowhere, Freiburg acted immediately after the 24-year-old’s announcement and soon signed Mio Backhaus as the new established No 1 for the record fee of €12 million. Atubolu now faces a spell in the stands if, a year before his contract expires, he cannot find a new employer who is even remotely attractive to him. It would be a genuine horror scenario given that, in recent years, the Freiburg goalkeeper has played his way into the orbit of the Germany national team and is regarded as a possible first-choice keeper of the future.
Eintracht Frankfurt now the "most stable alternative" for Atubolu
That is why Atubolu can now well imagine a move to Frankfurt, kicker recently reported. According to that report, he sees Eintracht as the "most stable alternative" to the plan of joining a European heavyweight, which went completely wrong. The only question is whether Eintracht can afford Atubolu at all. Freiburg want at least €15 million despite the universally known dilemma.
According to kicker, there have not yet been any concrete negotiations between Freiburg and Eintracht. The same applies to Hütter’s former club Monaco and SGE. More recently, Eintracht were also linked with a return for the hugely popular Lukas Hradecky in Frankfurt alongside Atubolu. According to kicker, however, that trail is not "hot".
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