Kehrer's switch to PSG not yet a done deal

Kolkata, August 16: German centre-back Thilo Kehrer’s permanent move from Bundesliga club Schalke to French Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) has not completed yet, according to Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel.

While the German club has accepted a reported €37 million transfer fee from PSG for the 21-year-old, the contracts are yet to be signed to complete the move.

"Kehrer's transfer to PSG is not yet complete. The contracts are still to be signed and he still needs to sort his personal terms," said Heidel.

It was just a few days earlier that Heidel claimed that Kehrer had agreed to sign the contract extension with the Bundesliga club. But they couldn't turn away the subsequent lucrtaive offer from PSG.

Heidel had told in a press conference, "Without an offer of the dimension that PSG has given us, Thilo would have certainly extended. We have basically agreed on a contract with Paris. The transfer will have an economic significance that Schalke 04 cannot refuse."

Meanwhile, the Schalke head coach Domenico Tedesco is confident about rest of the team as he believes that this move will not affect in their defense.

Tedesco said, "We have a very good squad, a good mix. Even without Thilo, we have a total of five options for (the back three), so if we play a back four we only need two centre-backs."

Kehrer is one of the success stories of Schalke’s youth system. The centre-back made his senior debut in the 2015/16 Bundesliga which was his only senior-level game in that season. In the next season (2016/17), the German youth appeared in 25 matches for Schalke while he featured in 33 matches in the previous season (2017/18).

In the last season, Kehrer performed very well and helped the club finish behind champions Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.

Kehrer, who recently served as a captain of Germany Under-21 football team, was also part of the German U-21 squad that won the 2017 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Poland.