Premier League clubs urged to ‘think twice’ about signing free agent who Jurgen Klopp wanted before Mohamed Salah

Premier League clubs have been warned against picking up Julian Brandt as a free agent this summer.

The 29-year-old, who turns 30 in May, will leave Borussia Dortmund when his current contract expires at the end of the season.

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The 48-cap Germany international, who has been a central figure at the Signal Iduna Park for seven years, has mutually agreed to part ways at Dortmund.

Brandt is a long-standing Premier League target, having famously been the player Jurgen Klopp favoured for Liverpool in 2017 before the club’s data team successfully lobbied for Mohamed Salah instead.

The German is now ironically said to be attracting attention from the Reds’ Merseyside rivals Everton, as well as Aston Villa.

However, European football expert Andy Brassell told talkSPORT.com that there are massive warning signs for any potential English suitors.

Julian Brandt transfer news

“We know that Villa have been interested in Julian Brandt before,” Trans Europe Express regular Brassell said.

“But if you’ve already got [Emi] Buendia and if you’ve already got Morgan Rogers, John McGinn, I don’t really know why you would want Julian Brandt. OK, he’s on a free, I get that.

“But is someone who will command absolutely enormous wages, who’s going to be 30-years-old and has never played in the Premier League before?

“Those are all big warning signs to me.

“And I think the difficulty for Brandt from his perspective is that on one hand, he has a really good CV.

“He’s two games off playing 300 games for Dortmund, but there’s always been that feeling at Dortmund that can’t he just do a little bit more?”

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Julian Brandt stats

This season, the attacker is just one goal contribution shy of reaching double figures in the Bundesliga with six strikes and three assists.

Yet Brassell added: “He’s just lacking a little something to make him absolutely elite.

“We know he’s capable of elite performances and elite performances in big games in the Champions League.

“But the fact is that Dortmund have decided enough is enough for a reason, because it’s a mutual decision, of course.

“That’s the way it’s been framed, but they’re not desperately unhappy to get out from €8million (£6.9m) a year of wages.

“And if you think that Dortmund are looking at a bit of a reset, they want to move on from a fairly old team, and what they’ve been is a bank for almost elite players who are commanding absolutely humongous wages.

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“The amount of salary that they’re getting off by losing a few of these guys, and if they lose Karim Adeyemi as well, is significant.

“And they’ll be able to do a complete rebuild and be a lot healthier financially, which they’ve wanted to be for a long time.

“The reality is, Brandt at his best is brilliant. He could decide any game.

“The other part of the reality is, he’s not been consistent enough to make any other club come and buy him or to make Dortmund continue to pay his absolutely enormous wages.

“So maybe there is a Premier League club that picks up, but at 30? I don’t think there are that many contenders out there.

“And of course, there’s the question of where you put him in the team? Because really, he’s probably an 8 or a 10, despite the fact that he’s flirted with playing on the wing before.

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“But do you give a guy like that, who hasn’t played in the Premier League before and is a bit inconsistent, the keys to the team?

“I don’t know if you do.”