Hertha Berlin steals Krzystof Piatek from Tottenham and Manchester United

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Tottenham have missed out on signing Krzysztof Piatek with the AC Milan striker on the verge of joining Hertha Berlin in a £23.5million deal.

krzysztof-piatek-ac-milanJose Mourinho wanted to bolster his attack by bringing Piatek to the club this month but made it very clear that he was only interested in signing the Poland international on a loan deal. AC Milan were keen to offload Piatek on a permanent basis despite only signing him last January from Genoa and rejected Tottenham’s advances.

The forward becomes Hertha’s third signing of the year after midfielders Santiago Ascacibar and Lucas Tousart and arrives after just a year in Milan, where he scored 16 goals in 41 competitive appearances. Talking about the transfer, sporting director of Hertha Berlin Michael Preetz;krzysztof-piatek-hertha-berlin

“With Krzysztof we’re getting a very talented striker who’s already proven himself at the highest level in Serie A and with the national team with his goal threat and attacking quality. We now have even more quality in attack with him,”

The striker was in formidable form in front of goal last season but has failed to transfer that over to this term and has scored just five times in 20 appearances in all competitions.

He was made surplus to requirements when Zlatan Ibrahimovic rejoined the club earlier this month and is now set to join his fourth club in just two years.

Piatek stated of his move to the German capital;

“I’m very happy this transfer has gone through. I really want to help this team and my new teammates to climb up the table as quickly as possible,”

The biggest thing was the clear plan that the club had for me. We want to each the biggest things possible together. As a striker, I want to score as many goals as possible for Hertha and help the team to rise up the table. A good start in a new league is really important for me. Next season, I hope that we can qualify for European competition!

Despite missing out on Piatek, Mourinho did on Wednesday welcome one attacker through the door with Steven Bergwijn joining for £27m from PSV.

This season has been less prolific with only four goals in 18 Serie A appearances as Piatek has found himself fall behind Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Rafael Leao, as well as Eintracht Frankfurt loanee Ante Rebic, in the Milan pecking order.

He moves to Berlin with Jürgen Klinsmann’s side 13th in the table after 19 games. Piatek’s potential first fixture with the Old Lady is at home to Schalke on Friday night.