German media says 20-year-old Turkish starlet Calhanoglu is being pursued by Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich is planning to table a bid for Hamburg's Turkish attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, Germany's sports media said Friday.
Newspapers said the German giants' sport director Matthias Sammer was an admirer of the 20-year-old's talents and had been pursuing him since his stint with Karsluher SC.
Hamburg's chairman Carl Jarchow, however, insisted that they had no intention to sell the Turkish international.
Calhanoglu, who has a contract with his current club until 2018, has scored 11 goals and made four assists in 31 Bundesliga appearances this season.
With one game to spare, Hamburg is facing the danger of dropping out of Bundesliga for the first time in its storied history.
The team is currently third from bottom, one point ahead of FC Nurnberg and two points ahead of Eintracht Braunschweig.
The bottom two finishers of the league are automatically relegated to the second division, whereas the third-from-bottom team is required to play a two-legged playoff with the third placed team of the second division.
Also gripped by financial problems, Hamburg may be obliged to sell many of its leading players including Dutch attacking midfielder Rafael van der Vaart and German left-back Marcell Jansen together with Calhanoglu.
