<
>

Kevin Kampl will 'definitely leave Leverkusen' after Schmidt sacking

Kevin Kampl is set to leave Bayer Leverkusen because of his disappointment at the decision to sack his mentor Roger Schmidt.

Kampl, 26, joined Leverkusen from Borussia Dortmund in 2015 to reunite with his old Red Bull Salzburg boss Roger Schmidt, and could now follow the future Beijing Guoan boss to the Chinese Super League.

The Slovenia international has already announced he will leave Leverkusen, and there have been "several enquiries, not only from the Chinese club" according to Rudi Voller, the club's sporting director.

"I will definitely leave Leverkusen. That's a fact," Kampl told kicker, and said that he never got over Schmidt's dismissal. "That thing with Roger injured me, it left traces.

"It's completely open where I'll go. I have many offers. China is far away, and if I go there, it's only because of Roger."

With Leverkusen reportedly holding out for a transfer fee of around €30 million and Beijing currently prepared to offer €20m, Kampl has also been linked with a switch to Serie A where AC Milan and Inter Milan are said to be interested.

Elsewhere, Anthony Modeste has left Cologne ahead of his move to Chinese Super League side Tianjin Quanjian. However, the transfer is yet to be completed and Bild reported that the 29-year-old striker did not inform his current club about his trip.

Although last week it appeared that the deal was set to be completed within a matter of days, the club have now been confronted with demands from the player's agents who reportedly want €6m of Cologne's share of the transfer fee.

Cologne sporting director Jorg Schmadtke said that the deal is currently on hold.

"You can only complete a medical once you've reached an agreement," he said in Bild.