Hamburg have completed the signing of
Marcus Berg from Groningen, with the Swedish striker signing a
five-year contract.
The Bundesliga club had spent the past fortnight locked in talks
with Groningen over a deal for the top scorer at the recent
European Under 21 Championship.
Negotiations appeared to have broken down due to the failure to
settle on a fee, but Groningen have accepted an offer which brings
in a club record amount for the Dutch side.
Groningen also revealed that Hamburg
do not want the transfer fee to be made public,
while the two clubs will play a friendly in either 2010 or
2011.
Berg, who had been linked with a string of clubs
across Europe, is happy to have joined Hamburg and is eager to make
his mark.
"I am pleased that everything is now perfect," Berg told the
club's official website.
"HSV is a top club in the Bundesliga and I want good
performances and goals to help ensure that we will be as successful
as possible."
New Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia is confident that Berg can continue his
impressive goalscoring form in Germany after netting 44 times in 69
games for Groningen.
Labbadia said: "I am very glad that we have signed Marcus Berg.
He is a striker who has a desire to score goals.
"That's what he has done in the past three years and
impressively proved that at the recent European U21
Championship."
skysports.