Pierre-Michel Lasogga's mother has hit out at Hamburg investor Klaus-Michael Kuhne for labelling her son, who is a target for Leeds United, the "flop of the century".
The striker is now fifth choice in his position at Hamburg and the Bundesliga club are trying to offload him, with Leeds keen to take him on a season-long loan deal.
Finances are a problem though as Leeds cannot afford to meet his full €3.4m per year salary and want Hamburg to shoulder some of the burden.
Major Hamburg investor Kuhne has criticised the club for being in such a position with Lasogga and believes it was madness to hand him such a lucrative contract based on one season where he scored 13 goals in 20 league appearances.
He dubbed the striker the "flop of the century" and bemoaned Hamburg often being stuck with below par players they cannot move on.
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Lasogga's mother Kerstin has taken exception to Kuhne's comments and hit back.
"I am a bit surprised at these statements. This is a bad habit that has crept in", she told Sky Deutschland.
"The club and the fans suffer because of it.
"Just because someone can run a worldwide company doesn't mean that they know about football.
"The investor constantly criticises the coach, the sporting director and individual players – without any knowledge of the situation.
"It is not for nothing that there is the saying 'cobbler, stick to your trade'."
With Leeds selling Chris Wood to Burnley, they may press the accelerator on their push to snap up Lasogga from Hamburg over the coming days.
