Arminia Bielefeld are also looking at further new arrivals in the middle of the season. Burak Ince (17) could become one.
Samir Arabi was sober in his assessment of the 4-0 loss to Bayer Leverkusen: “We met one of the best teams in Germany.” Bielefeld are thus still waiting for their first win of the season and will spend the international break in 16th place.
Meanwhile, sporting director Arabi, in particular, is looking to second-division side Altinordu in Turkey. There, Burak Ince is drawing attention to himself and has attracted the attention of FC Sevilla and Leverkusen in addition to Arminia. The talented midfielder will turn 18 on 20 January and is then expected to move to the Bundesliga; an Instagram story by the young Turk recently already hinted at the move.
During talks at the Altinordu academy, from which Caglar Söyüncü (formerly of Freiburg, now of Leicester City) also emerged, the conviction apparently grew that Bielefeld could be a suitable springboard to international football for Ince.
According to reports, Arminia wants to offer the soon-to-be 18-year-old a lavish five-year contract when he comes of age, although Arabi only elicited a meaningful smile from reports of a record-breaking transfer fee of around 2.5 million euros for the East Westphalians. It will not be this sum.