Manchester United target Swiss striker Breel Embolo has signed a 5-yaer-contract with the German side FC Schalke 04 for a fee in the region of £20m.
This news comes as a huge blow for the Red Devils as they were keen on signing the 19-year-old striker this summer to bolster their attack.
Embolo had an incredible last season at Basel with 21 goals and 14 assists to his name from 60 appearances. The 19-year-old youngster is believed to be one of the upcoming fresh talents to look out for and the Cameroon-born player has won 3 consecutive Swiss League titles with his former club Basel.
Embolo asserted on Schalke’s official Twitter page, that he is “happy to be a royal blue” and accentuated that after returning from his International duty in France, he will ‘”look forward to take up the new challenge ahead”.
DONE DEAL: Breel #Embolo is a #Schalke player! #s04 pic.twitter.com/tutoRaeF7g
— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) June 26, 2016
The new 5-year-contract with Schalke will keep the youngster at the club until 2021. Embolo impressed his fans in all the four games that he played at Euro 2016 but his side were knocked out of the tournament after a 5-4 defeat on penalties against Poland on Sunday afternoon.
Breel #Embolo is Royal Blue! ?⚪ #s04 #OhEmbolohttps://t.co/o2Lxah9mO7
— FC Schalke 04 (@s04_en) June 26, 2016
Embolo was under the radar of top European clubs this summer and Manchester United was higly linked with the Swiss youngster in the past few weeks. It is also believed that other European big shots like Arsenal, FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg were also interested in roping in the services of the 19-year-old striker. However Schalke was quick to make the announcement on twitter as they edged past the high profile in the battle for Embolo.
Speaking to the club’s official website, sporting director Christian Heidel said, “Embolo is a “highly talented striker, who already has a lot of international experience and was also in demand at several other top European clubs.”