St. Pauli prepare to make another push to acquire striker Morgan Guilavogui from Lens permanently | OneFootball

The Hamburger Abendblatt reports that FC St. Pauli are preparing to make another attempt to re-sign attacker Morgan Guilavogui. Hamburg’s Kiezkicker are apparently making Guilavogui’s re-acquisition a top priority within their January transfer market plans. The player himself wishes to return to his old Bundesliga club after featuring mostly as a substitute for RC Lens this season. 

What happened with Guilavogui this past summer?

The younger brother of former VfL Wolfsburg captain Joshua Guilavogui featured on loan at St. Pauli from RC Lens last season. Morgan led the newly promoted Bundesliga side in goals (6) and overall scorer points (8). Keen to retain Guilavogui’s services, St. Pauli exercised a €3m purchase option in Guilavogui’s loan contract. 

Guilavogui technically became a St. Pauli player for a day, but RC Lens then opted to exercise their own €4.5m buyback option secured in the initial deal. The Bundesliga club procured several other strikers (Ricky Jade Jones, Martijn Kaars, and Andreas Hountondji) to serve in Guilavogui’s stead, but that trio have all had injury issues.

Guilavogui has only made 14 (mostly short) appearances for his Ligue 1 club this year and only scored one goal. According to the Abendblatt report, Lens understandably remain uninterested in another loan deal. Guilavogui – with a current estimated market value of €4m – must be purchased outright. 

GGFN | Peter Weis