Ricken: Guirassy Is Not For Sale

The statement from Germany on Monday afternoon was a stop sign in the Serhou Guirassy transfer file that has been occupying Turkey's agenda for days. Borussia Dortmund's Sporting Managing Director Lars Ricken delivered his words clearly to the Essen-based regional newspaper WAZ: "We do not have any offer in hand for Serhou. We also have no intention of letting him go. He has impressively proven his value for Borussia Dortmund in the past two seasons." These three sentences became the official German response to all "verbal agreement" claims made during the Fenerbahçe election campaign.

The background of the statement is Fenerbahçe's extraordinary elective general assembly to be held on June 6-7, 2026. While the two presidential candidates — Aziz Yıldırım and Hakan Safi — compete for the votes of congress members, transfer promises have taken centre stage in the campaign. According to a report on Saturday from Yağız Sabuncuoğlu, Aziz Yıldırım was claimed to have "reached a verbal agreement" with both Guirassy and Borussia Dortmund; it was written that the talks would be formalised if Yıldırım won the election. From the opposite wing, Hakan Safi made a similar claim when addressing congress members in Antalya: "I personally met on April 23 with the Guinean centre-forward Serhou Guirassy, who is under contract with Dortmund and whom I have been following closely for a long time. We will have another meeting tomorrow. Whoever wins the election will go and get Guirassy." This rivalry lay in the background of the picture talked about in Turkish media as "transfer announcements from two fronts."

Lars Ricken's statement is a direct response to the perception created by both these candidates. The WAZ interview dated Monday, June 1, also proves that the Turkish agenda found international echo. There is an important detail that German regional journalism in the area also underlines: BVB will only sit at the negotiating table if an offer above 40 million Euros comes. The structural reason for this is the release clause in Guirassy's contract: there is a release clause of around 35 million Euros, but this clause applies to Europe's top seven-eight clubs (Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool). Fenerbahçe is not on this list. So the yellow-and-navy club will have to sit at a classical negotiating table for Guirassy.

Guirassy's personal position is also important in this equation. The previous report of the German Bild newspaper had stated that the 30-year-old Guinean striker wants to leave Dortmund for sporting reasons and wants to guarantee "the last major contract of his career." Guirassy, whose annual salary is approximately 9 million Euros, has a brother and agent named Karamba Guirassy who is known to have offered the player to Saudi Arabia Pro League clubs as well — there was a possibility that his income would double there. But according to Bild's report, the Saudi Arabia option is now "the second priority"; Guirassy prefers to meet first with a European club that will play in the Champions League. This point perhaps opens a hope for Fenerbahçe — the yellow-and-navy club was in the Champions League this season.

When looking at Guirassy's Dortmund career, it is seen that Ricken's "impressively proven his value" sentence in his statement is in place. The 30-year-old striker came to the Westphalia region from Stuttgart in the summer of 2024. He has remarkable data of 60 goals and 15 assists in 96 matches over two seasons. This season, he took part in 46 matches including the Bundesliga, Champions League and German Cup. Since Niko Kovac took the chair, he has also been next to Karim Adeyemi — at a time when contract extension talks with Adeyemi are also ongoing, Ricken seems determined to maintain stability in the club's attack line.

On the other side, there are other suitors for Guirassy in Europe too. AC Milan was reported by Goal.com to be "high on the wish list." English Premier League clubs have also long been interested. In addition, Ricken last month also rejected rumours of a Guirassy backup plan for Nick Woltemade from Newcastle to Sport Bild: "I'm hearing that for the first time. No truth to it. Our attack line is excellently positioned with Guirassy and Fábio Silva." So the Dortmund side constantly delivers the message "Guirassy is staying with us" against media claims. Monday's WAZ statement is also the newest reinforcement of this.

How the transfer file will be shaped after the Fenerbahçe election on June 6-7 is still uncertain. Whoever the new president will be — Yıldırım or Safi — the Guirassy claim will remain on the table as a promise. But with Ricken's statement today, the work now has to proceed not with "agreement announcements" in Turkey, but with a concrete official offer and negotiation process in Germany. The 40 million Euro bar in the WAZ report also seems to be the starting point of this. If the yellow-and-navy club continues with the Guirassy target, the time to move from words to action is waiting at the door.

Source: WAZ

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