Mainz sporting director Rouven Schroeder has reacted to transfer speculation suggesting that English clubs were keen to sign Jean-Philippe Mateta.
German football magazine Sport-BILD, as relayed by 90Min, had claimed that Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton held an interest in the 22-year-old with Mauricio Pochettino going to the lengths of calling the striker’s agent Pierre-Henri Bovis to encourage him to make the move to North London.
Tottenham have been left without a target man since the departure of Fernando Llorente during the summer following the conclusion of his contract and has since gone on to sign for Napoli.
At 6ft 4 in, Mateta certainly fits the bill to add an aerial threat to the Spurs frontline but Schroeder has poured cold water on the prospect of losing his forward and insisted that a January exit will certainly not happen.
Mateta has yet to feature for the Bundesliga outfit this season after suffering a knee injury during training in July which required surgery and was subsequently ruled out for around three months (Mainz official).
“There is definitely no contact at the moment and no interest from England, and JP feels very well in Mainz and therefore extended his contract until 2023,” Schroeder told Main-Spitze
“A theme will definitely not be the winter transfer period, so switching can be clearly ruled out, so there’s no point in talking about ominous supposed pain thresholds that did not exist and do not exist,”
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