Mourinho makes Ten Hag 'sit on fire'

According to Bild, Fenerbahce is preparing to submit a 20 million euro offer to recruit Exequiel Palacios from Bayer Leverkusen.

Ten Hag is at risk of losing another key player this summer.

The Turkish side are ready to complete the deal either on a permanent basis or on a loan with an obligation to buy. The Argentine midfielder has been identified as a top target in Jose Mourinho's plans to rebuild his midfield ahead of next week's Champions League play-off against Benfica.

Leverkusen had a turbulent summer with a number of key players leaving. Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong went to Liverpool, Granit Xhaka went to Sunderland, Odilon Kossounou joined Atalanta, Lukas Hradecky joined Monaco and Jonathan Tah moved to Bayern Munich.

Losing Palacios will make rebuilding under new coach Erik ten Hag more difficult. Mourinho rates Palacios highly and this transfer move clearly makes coach Ten Hag "sit on hot coals".

Palacios played a key role in Leverkusen's unbeaten run to the Bundesliga 2024 title. He joined the club from River Plate in January 2020 for €22 million and has made 108 Bundesliga appearances, scoring 11 goals and assisting 14. While he hasn't always been a starter, Palacios has been a consistent cog in the side.

Fenerbahce want to complete the deal before the first leg of their Champions League play-off against Benfica on August 21. Meanwhile, Leverkusen will face Sonnenhof in the German Cup before kicking off the Bundesliga season against Hoffenheim on August 23.

With a seriously depleted squad, the German team is forced to prioritize adding personnel instead of losing more stars.

Source: https://znews.vn/mourinho-khien-ten-hag-ngoi-tren-dong-lua-post1577346.html