Wolfsburg general manager Klaus Allofs has admitted that the club are still looking at the possibility of signing Chelsea youngster Kevin de Bruyne, but thinks that the deal will be difficult to do.
De Bruyne has been consistently linked with a Bundesliga return in recent months after finding first-team opportunities limited at Stamford Bridge, particularly following Belgium's qualification for next summer's World Cup.
Allofs has revealed that Wolfsburg are willing to match the investment made to sign Luis Gustavo from Bayern Munich last summer, but does not want to raise expectations of supporters without due cause.
He told Bild: "We want to do reasonable transfers, just like with Luiz Gustavo. That was exceptional in terms of transfer fee and dimension. We want to continue a selective reinforcement of our squad. Not in heave-ho style.
"At Werder, I have seen just how good De Bruyne is. If such players are possible, you of course think about them.
"But we should not raise the hopes of our fans. In the end they comment, 'Once again, you failed to sign him'."
Allofs has a working relationship with De Bruyne after bringing the youngster to the Bundesliga during his time at Werder Bremen.
Liam Power
