Reports in both England and Germany suggest Dost is subject of interest from Newcastle, Southampton and Stoke City, despite a recent drop in form.
- By Matthew Trevalyan
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Bas Dost has been in sensational form for Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg this season. With 13 league goals in 15 appearances, the Dutchman has propelled Wolfsburg to second in the table behind Bayern Munich. Some outstanding performances, including a fantastic return of four goals away at Leverkusen in a thrilling 5 – 4 victory for Dost’s side, certainly seems to have attracted foreign attention if reports in Bild and The Guardian are to be believed.
Both newspapers report that a number of Premier League clubs are interested in the centre forward, originally from Deventer. They quote a figure suggesting that Dost would only be available for roughly £15 million. However, even in the inflated transfer market of the 21st century, that’s an awful lot of money for a man who Wolfsburg were desperate to get rid of in the summer. Feyenoord had a bid accepted for the striker, yet a last-minute change of heart kept Dost plying his trade in the German first division, something which Wolfsburg are probably now grateful for.
Yet with just one notable goal scoring spree occurring after the Bundesliga winter break this year, is Dost really worth £15 million and would he be a success in the Premier League? He certainly has the physical attributes to contend with English football – standing at almost 6″3 and well known for aerial ability, Dost may well fit in comfortably in a division where a target man often proves successful. Dost however, had only scored a total of 12 Bundesliga goals in a total of 41 appearances before this season and had struggled to justify his £6 million move from Eredivisie side Sc Heerenveen, where he was rather more prolific. His 32 goals for the Northern Dutch club in the 2011/12 season showed he had an immense amount of potential, but this has never been fulfilled, with the exception of late January – March this year.
Approaching his seventh straight game without a goal, Dost’s sensational form seems to have drifted away from him, as has the media frenzy that surrounded him following his two goals against Bayern. You would perhaps struggle to justify his time in the Bundesliga over the last three seasons as ‘prolific’ and it is the inconsistency with which Dost plays, that will probably deter any Premier League club from parting with such an amount of money.
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