In a somewhat surprising revelation Hoffenheim youngster Jeremy Toljan has revealed that last summer he rejected the chance to join Red Bull Salzburg and even Italian giants Juventus. The 20-year old left back is returning from injury and thanks to the absence of Jin-Su Kim who is at the Asian Cup he could be looking at some game time at the start of the Rückrunde.
With the departure of Fabian Johnson in the summer and the afore-mentioned Kim yet to convince despite an impressive Asian Cup the opportunity is ripe for Toljan to impress and make his mark on Markus Gisdol’s side.
The player clearly isn’t letting the interest get to his head as he spoke to Bild and said “I want to prove myself in Hoffenheim. I know the interest of these clubs”.
He went on to say it’s “a great confirmation, but for me not an issue”. With the likes of Patrice Evra, Kwadwo Asamoah and Roberto Pereyra it is unlikely that he would’ve got much time and Juventus.
An extra factor in Toljan’s decision could’ve been that apart from Paul Pogba Juventus don’t have a great recent record when it comes to bringing through young players. It is probably more likely that he would’ve got more time at Salzburg than Juventus but as mentioned before Toljan has real chance to lay down a marker at Hoffenheim.