Wheeling and dealing

The most spectacular move during the final frenzy that preceded "deadline day" was the one that didn’t happen. According to information in the respected German soccer magazine kicker, Borussia Dortmund turned down a 40 million euro ($57.8 million) for the young emerging superstar Mario Götze from struggling English club Arsenal.

Götze himself may very well have nixed the deal, had Dortmund been willing to cash in, as he's still only 19 years old. But speaking to reporters on Wednesday August 31, Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp said the club hadn't been tempted.

"It didn't even make me twitch," Klopp said. "None of us feels the need right now to do business. We don't want to hurt our sporting results for the sake of a quick deutschmark."

Klopp seemed to have momentarily forgotten that Germany now uses the euro, but his and Dortmund management's steadfastness underlines the club's ambitions as it enters into a first Champions League campaign since 2003.

Arsenal, who have been cagey as to whether they really did make a mega-bid for Götze, had more luck with Werder Bremen. The North Germans accepted a bid from the Gunners rumored to be between 7 and 10 million euros for German national team defender Per Mertesacker, who was given leave to jet over to London despite the Nationalelf's Euro 2012 qualifier against Austria at week's end.

Werder have gotten off to a hot start this season, winning three of their first four. The sale of Mertesacker raises questions about whether Bremen think they can make a serious bid for the Champions League, a competition to which they had an almost automatic berth earlier in the new millennium.

"If you lose your captain and a regular starter in the national team, it's a big loss," Bremen sports director Klaus Allofs admitted to reporters. "We don't want to downplay that. But it will give other players a chance."

With Mertesacker in the final year of his contract, Allofs no doubt decided it was better to get something now rather than risk him walking for free next summer.

Revolving doors

If there's one man in German football who's not scared to pull the trigger on deals in both directions, it's Felix Magath. And Wolfsburg's coach and sporting director was at it again as the transfer window eased shut.

Gone is flop central defender Simon Kjaer, who's being loaned out to AS Roma for a year. And Wolfsburg also reached a loan deal with Atletico Madrid for malcontent playmaker Diego, who's been suspended since walking out on the Wolves after being left out of the starting line-up on the final day of last season.

Coming in on loan from Barcelona is midfielder Alexander Hleb, who played for Magath in Stuttgart a few years back. The 30-year-old Belarusian's better days, however, would appear to be behind him, as he rarely got a game at Barcelona and failed to impress while out of loan in the previous two seasons to Stuttgart and Birmingham City.

Still, the moves follow the well-established Magath pattern of shipping out slackers and acquiring players who are used to his imperious ways. Whether that will revive the Wolves' flagging fortunes is a long-shot.

A bit further to the north, Hamburg decided they could do without midfielder Eljero Elia, who's off to Juventus for 9 million euros. The 24-year-old became one of the Bundesliga's brightest young stars when he arrived in the Northern German port city in 2009.

But injuries held him back in 2010-11, and he had become a source of grumbling in a rebuilding young side that has earned only one point from its first four matches.

As a replacement, Hamburg thought it had a deal in place to get Wolfsburg's Ja-Cheol Koo, but Magath allegedly reneged last-minute.

"Neither my German nor my hearing is that bad that I misunderstood," fumed Hamburg's Danish sports director Frank Arnesen. "That's no way to treat a colleague."

Late in the day, Hamburg also decided they could do without versatile veteran defender Guy Demel. After over five years in northern Germany, the 30-year-old is off to London to play for West Ham in England's second tier.

Hamburg did ink Croatian Ivo Ilicevic for four million from Kaiserslautern. But they’ll have to wait a bit before he can help them in what looks like an impending relegation battle. Ilicevic, who had a breakthrough year last season, is currently serving a four-game suspension.

If you can't beat him, buy him

Schalke landed striker Teemu Pukki from HJK Helsinki, a deal that became apparent after the lanky Finn was seen lurking around Gelsenkirchen for much of Wednesday.

Teemu who, you say? That's likely precisely what the Royal Blues said until earlier this month, when Pukki put three goals past them and almost knocked them out of the Europa Cup.

The transfer was another example of teams snapping up players who perform well against them. To make space in the roster, Schalke reportedly sent robotic Brazilian Edu to Turkey and youngster Mario Gavranovic to Mainz, where it seems no youngster can ever fail to outperform expectations.

The deals, if indeed the early evening reports were true, underscore the fact that new Schalke coach Ralf Rangnick wants the club back in the Champions League sooner rather than later.

And sportswriters were left gleefully rubbing their hands at all the potential puns to be deployed with name like Teemu Pukki.

Author: Jefferson Chase
Editor: Matt Hermann