Fulham are ready to revive their move for Werder Bremen’s Swedish international defender Ludwig Augustinsson, according to a Daily Mirror report this evening.
The paper claims that the Whites sent scouts to keep a close on eye on Augustinsson during Sweden’s World Cup quarter final defeat at the hands of England in Samara on Saturday. The Premier League new boys were heavily linked with the left back last month and are preparing to step up their interest in the 24 year-old as they are coming close to admitting defeat in their pursuit of Southampton full back Matt Targett.
Fulham had a £10m bid for Targett, who enjoyed a successful loan spell at Craven Cottage last season, as Slavisa Jokanovic’s side won promotion via the Championship play-offs rejected by the Saints earlier this summer, with manager Mark Hughes playing hardball over the former England under-21 international’s future. The Mirror suggests that talks over a proposed deal have broken down – and the Cottagers are about to switch their attentions to Augustinsson.
Augustinsson, who played 33 times for Bremen last season and scored a single goal, has only been in Germany for a year after ending a successful two-year spell with Copenhagen, where he won back-to-back Danish titles and three Danish Cups. The attack-minded full-back, who was converted from a midfielder at the age of eleven, is a set-piece specialist and was considered one of the stars of the 2015 European Under-21 championship, which Sweden won.
Augustinsson, who has been linked with a number of English sides in the past, has three years to run on his current contract and the Werder Bremen hierarchy played down talk of a move away prior to the World Cup. But Fulham, who are eager to bring in at least one left back to allow Ryan Sessegnon to continue to play in the left wing position from where he made such an impression last season, could be set to test Werder’s resolve to hold onto their World Cup star with a big-money bid.
