The former Real Madrid playmaker, arrived on Tuesday for his medical in Berlin but a breakdown on the agreed contract terms saw an end to the potential deal.
A statement from Union Berlin commented: “We wanted Isco in Berlin, but we have our limits”
The Bundesliga high-flyers were confident in securing Isco, who has been a free agent since agreeing to mutually terminate his contract with Sevilla in December.
However, after both parties reached an agreement on the Spaniard’s contract with him expected to sign until June 2024 with an optional one year extension, progress stalled at the medical.
It’s believed Isco and his agent were demanding more money, but the German minnows refused after already discussing terms previously.
Spanish pundit Anton Meana when talking to Cadena SER said, “I think Isco would have been a problem for Union. I don’t think Isco is up to that level of football, I don’t think he suits the Bundesliga”.
Union Berlin, envisaged Isco as a marquee signing and hoped the five-time Champions League winner could help them in the title race against Bayern Munich.
Urs Fischer’s side, currently a top the Bundesliga table, have won all five of there matches since the break for the World Cup and are on course to end Bayern’s 11 consecutive Bundesliga titles.
Isco, a former Golden Boy winner at Malaga, only joined Sevilla in the summer ending a decorative nine years with Los Blancos.
The move to the Andalusian side was intended to re-juvenate the midfielder, who had become a fringe player at Real Madrid, but he has struggled this season scoring once in 19 appearances across all competitions.
Capped 38 times by Spain, Isco had been out of favour under new head coach Jorge Sampaoli and had not featured for the club since there Copa Del Rey victory on November 13th.
His former manager Sampaoli said regarding Isco’s departure: “He leaves a player who has great capacity, but he did not meet the club’s expectation”.
The 30 year old seems to have hit a crossroads in his career, a shadow of his former self, as a result of poor discipline and a bad injury record.
The biggest question, is where he will end up next. Several Turkish heavyweights like Galatasaray and Fenerbahçe have expressed interested but nothing has been made official yet.
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