Mainz sporting director Christian Heidel has revealed the reasons why the Bundesliga club accepted Brighton’s offer for Brajan Gruda in the summer transfer window.
The young German forward is considered a top talent and the Seagulls paid a significant £25m to acquire the highly-rated attacker from Mainz.
Gruda is currently a Germany Under-21 international and he played 31 senior matches for the Bundesliga side before joining the Premier League club.
New boss Fabian Hurzeler has been backed heavily by the Seagulls board and Heidel insisted that due to the amount of money Brighton put on the table for Gruda, they could not say no.
Heidel admitted that even though Mainz were not in financial need, they are still mostly run through their transfer profits and that is why they agreed to sell Gruda.
“With Brajan we were not under such financial pressure here in Mainz”, the 61-year-old told German magazine Sport Bild about selling Gruda to Brighton.
“But the offer then moved in a direction that made us say: we have to do this now. Both for Brajan and for Mainz 05.
“Because the majority of this club is still financed through transfer surpluses.”
Gruda, though, has still not been able to show his qualities at his new club as the 20-year-old is currently injured and will not be available until next month.
