New York City FC head coach Pascal Jansen had no interest in getting into a back-and-forth after Schalke sporting director Frank Baumann released a scathing statement after the transfer of Moussa Sylla fell through.
Reports last week indicated that a deal to have Sylla join NYCFC as the replacement for injured star Alonso Martínez was all but done, but things fell apart over the weekend.
Baumann said that the Bundesliga club was “frustrated by the behavior” of NYCFC and that they tried to change the agreement from a permanent transfer to a loan with options on Sunday, which was “not acceptable to us.”
Jansen described the situation simply as the “deal fell through” and that NYCFC is “switching gears” to find another player to replace Martínez.
“Those are the words from Germany and from Schalke in this particular situation,” Jansen said when asked by The Post if he wanted to respond to the comments made by Baumann. “Whatever they said is for their account. We’ve said what we wanted to say and that’s what I’m going to stick to as well.”
As for who the club is turning its attention to fill the gap at the No. 9 spot on the pitch, Jansen chuckled at an attempt to suss out any information.
“Well it’s good that you try and ask,” he joked before declining to comment.
Baumann’s comments were not as diplomatic in a statement that was published on Schalke’s website.
“The contracts weren’t just negotiated, they had already been signed,” Baumann said. “Now to claim he failed the medical in order to trigger a clause in the contract doesn’t add up — because Moussa is healthy and fully fit. We see nothing in the findings that would justify classifying the medical as failed. We will strongly challenge that claim, also to protect Moussa. He can quite easily continue as a professional footballer for another decade.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
