FRANKFURT: German league boss Christian Seifert has expressed his concern that more German players will be lured away to England after the massive hike in the next Premier League rights sale.

Seifert, chief executive of the Bundesliga for the past 10 years, said that German clubs should be concerned by the gap extending in financial power between the two championships.

“There is a sensible reasons for being concerned at the effect on the Bundesliga of the richest league in the world . . . our clubs will need to become more imaginative and work harder if they want to keep their players.”

One lever the Premier League had used to ramp up its income from Sky and BT Sport was by adding in an extra swath of fixtures on a Friday night.

Seifert, in an interview with Sueddeutsche Zeitung, suggested the option for an extra fixture slot was beyond the Bundesliga.

He said: “It is virtually impossible to make any decision about another slot which would not be unpopular. There is currently no plan to introduce any more schedules.”

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