Brighton & Hove Albion's Deniz Undav keen to make permanent Stuttgart transfer

The 27-year-old has excelled during his temporary spell with Stuttgart this season, scoring 14 goals and registering seven assists in 22 Bundesliga appearances.

Undav's impressive contributions in attack have helped Stuttgart climb up to third in the Bundesliga table, with the club on course to secure Champions League qualification for the first time in 15 years - 12 months on from narrowly avoiding relegation.

The Varel-born striker's form was rewarded with his first international call-up to the Germany senior side earlier this month, and he was handed his first cap under Julian Nagelsmann in Saturday's 2-0 friendly win over France.

Undav, whose family hail from Turkey, has set his sights on cementing his place in the Germany squad for Euro 2024 on home soil, while the striker has also made it clear that he wants to stay at Stuttgart beyond this season.

However, Undav has revealed that talks over a permanent switch from parent club Brighton have yet to enter an advanced stage.

Speaking to Sky Deutschland reporter Florian Plettenberg about the prospect of joining Stuttgart permanently, Undav said: "I would be happy the faster that works".

"But it is a slow process because there are still other parties that need to be spoken with."

On representing Germany, Undav added: "It was already long clear to me that I really wanted to play for Germany, because I grew up here. I'm really happy here, and I don't have too much connection with Turkey. I'm just a kid with a dream.

"I was only waiting for the German national team coach to call, and so I was even happier when he actually called.

"I don't have any declaration of war. I try to help the team, be positive, and create a good atmosphere. And if I play, I'll be all in. In a EURO, you don't need 11, but rather 23 players who know their role and accept it."

According to Plettenberg, Stuttgart have the option to buy Undav permanently if they activate his release clause which is valued between €13m (£11.2m) and €15m (£12.9m).

Undav, who was signed by Brighton from sister club Union SG for around €7m in January 2022, is under contract with the Seagulls until the summer of 2026, but the striker's future seemingly lies away from the Premier League club.

The German was integrated into Roberto De Zerbi's Brighton squad for the 2022-23 campaign, but he only started nine of his 30 appearances in all competitions, scoring eight goals.

This season, De Zerbi is working with Joao Pedro, Danny Welbeck and Evan Ferguson in the attacking department at Brighton - the former of whom is the club's top scorer with 19 goals, while the latter two have chipped in with five and six goals respectively.