Borussia Dortmund were willing to pay as much as £26 million to sign Leeds United striker Georginio Rutter in the summer.
That is according to Ruhr 24, who report that figure still would not have been enough to tempt Leeds into selling the 21-year-old having only arrived from Hoffenheim a matter of months earlier.
As per Sky Sports, Borussia Dortmund saw a £25 million offer rejected by Leeds during the window, and it would appear they were willing to go even higher.
However, with Leeds having paid around £28 million to sign him in January, they made it clear he would only be sold if they were able make a profit on him.
Dortmund instead turned their attentions elsewhere to sign Niclas Füllkrug from Werder Bremen, while Rutter was also the subject of late interest from Lyon, though that never progressed.
Dortmund were willing to pay £26m for Leeds’ Rutter
Even though he had only joined in January, you could not have blamed Rutter if he had sought an exit in the summer given how he was treated last season.
In actual fact, it would appear he was one of a handful of players who did not kick up a fuss and force an exit, which looks as though it is paying dividends.
Rutter has scored two goals and provided one assist so far this season and regular game time is clearly helping him find a rhythm in his performances, with Neil Redfearn having hailed his display at Salford Citt as ‘excellent’.
Given his age, the 21-year-old is certainly still inconsistent, with his impressive showing at Millwall on Sunday not really backed up against Hull City.
