At the beginning of the week all hope of signing Pierre-Michel Lasogga seemed lost with the German striker closing in on a return to Hamburg where he enjoyed a fruitful loan spell last season. But a bubbling undercurrent of boardroom uncertainty at the Bundesliga club has put the transfer, for the time being, on ice despite general manager Oliver Kreuzer's fervent desire to bring Lasogga back to the Imtech Arena in a rumoured 18 million (£10m) package deal that will see former Magpies target Per Ciljan Skjelbred move in the opposite direction to Hertha Berlin. HSV require a cash injection from long-standing investor Klaus-Michael Kuehne to enable them to afford the 22-year-old but the tycoon has suggested that he could sack head coach Mirko Slomka and Kreuzer which could scupper their hopes of completing the deal. Reports in the Chronicle this morning suggest United certainly have grounds to be optimistic in their chase for the 22-year-old, especially if Kuehne withdraws his funding, and it's likely that our managing director Lee Charnley will be keep tabs on the situation. However, we're still not fully convinced that Lasogga, who weighed in with an impressive total of 17 goals last season, is worth an £10m outlay given his contract will expire next year. Although we've moaned in the past about Mike Ashley for his reluctance to meet the stated valuation for a player we'd have no qualms in this instance if he instructed Charnley to barter down the price for the Germany under-21 international.
