EXCLUSIVE: Arsenal, Everton join Bayern in race for Hamburg star

TEAMtalk can reveal the race to sign a 22-year-old Scottish player excelling in Bundesliga 2 is starting to hot up.

Premier League scouts are flocking to take in Hamburg matches, where 6ft 4ins centre-half David Bates is impressing.

The 22-year-old central defender opted to quit Rangers in the summer and sign for Hamburg. 

The move looks to have proved an astute one too, with his side riding high in Bundesliga 2 as they look for promotion back to the top-flight, and Bates proving a smash hit in coach Christian Titz’s side.

As such, we can reveal Bates is attracting a lot of attention with both Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund maintaining a watching brief on the Scotland Under-21 international.

But the strongest interest is emanating from England, and we have been told that scouts from Arsenal, Everton, Leicester, Watford and Southampton have all headed over to Volksparkstadion to watch his displays in recent weeks.

Explaining his decision to quit Rangers and move to Germany in the summer, Bates said: “Like Rangers, HSV are (an) iconic club with tremendous history and all the pressures that come with that.

“They have given me a lot of faith in their recruitment and I can’t wait to kick on and develop further as a player. It was an opportunity I don’t think anyone could turn down.”

It’s not known whether a bid for Bates will be forthcoming in January, with the player signing a four-year deal to 2022 after leaving Ibrox at the end of his contract.

 

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