At almost 33 years old (he will celebrate them on September 25), Jonathan Clauss thought he was living a new experience in Germany. At a time when the gym is going through a period of turbulence despite a beautiful 2024/2025 season punctuated by a fourth place in the Ligue 1 ranking, the French side was offered the possibility of evolving in the Bayer Leverkusen jersey. Only a year after his arrival on the French Riviera, the former Marseillais was ready to fold luggage.
Starting inclinations that we had revealed to you and which had been confirmed by the Nice coach, Franck Haise. “He has a desire to leave because there is a good offer from a big club. It can be understood. It's been a few weeks ago, that also explains some of its recent performances. The club has the will to keep it, if there must be a departure, it will be in conditions that will respect the three parties. We want to keep it, he knows it. To hold a player who does not want to stay is special. He may be there on September 2, we don't know. We'll see. »»
Nice demanded € 20 million at the start for Clauss
Unfortunately for Clauss, he saw his transfer Capoter and Lucas Vazquez pass him in front. And if the Germans preferred to stop negotiations with the gym to go for the old merengue, it is for a reason. In its edition of the day, The team reveals that Nice has shown an XXL financial greed. Have the Aiglons attempted a stroke of poker? The daily tells us that they have claimed a too important sum in view of the situation of their defender. Initially, Nice claimed no less than € 20 million dry for a player of almost 33 years to whom there was only one year of contract left. An amount far too high.
Then, the Niçois agreed to let their player spinned against 16 M € fixed plus € 4 million in bonuses, before saying yes if an offer of € 15 million reached them. Opposite, Bayer Leverkusen never wanted to pay so much. The Bundesliga vice-champions started the negotiations with two first offers (€ 4 million + € 2 M of bonuses then € 6.25 M + € 2 M of bonuses), before formulating its last 8 million proposal + € 4 million in bonuses. On Monday, when Nice finally agreed to sell Clauss for less than 15 M €, Leverkusen put the medical examination to Lucas Vazquez, putting an end to the soap. Faced with this cruel scenario for the player, it remains to be seen how his return to the French Riviera workforce.
