Bayer 04 Leverkusen would like to sign a central defender. The factory club has several candidates in mind. Some are difficult to afford, others do not ideally fit the profile. An overview.
While Riccardo Calafiori (left) is not an issue at Bayer 04 Leverkusen, things could be different for Robin Koch (right). imago images (2)
The situation is relatively simple. As long as Bayer 04 has not signed a potential successor for Jonathan Tah, an agreement with FC Bayern Munich in the poker game for Leverkusen’s defense chief is not to be expected. But finding Tah’s replacement is not so easy after Stuttgart’s Waldemar Anton decided to join BVB.
Top quality solutions that Leverkusen had in mind are unaffordable: such as Spain’s European Championship driver Robin Le Normand (27, San Sebastian), whose release clause is over 40 million euros. Or Italy’s European Championship winner Riccardo Calafiori (22). Since his employer, FC Bologna, has to hand over 50 percent of the transfer proceeds to FC Basel, the central defender would be just as expensive as Le Normand, because otherwise a sale would not be worthwhile for the Italians.
Bayer 04 does not want to pay transfer fees of 30 million euros or more, nor does it want to enter new dimensions in the financial area, even though managing director Simon Rolfes knows that as the squad level increases, the transfer fees have to be adapted to the market to a certain extent.
For less money, the choice is small. Or Bayer has to make compromises in its demands, such as with the free agent Mats Hummels (35), who is part of the thought experiments, meets many criteria, but is not yet the chosen candidate due to his clear lack of speed.
The same applies to Frankfurt’s Robin Koch, who turns 28 in July and has an exit clause that is said to be in the region of 20 million euros. A year ago, Bayer wanted to loan the international player from Leeds United on a free transfer. But paying such a high transfer fee for a player who promises no resale value has not been in line with Bayer’s transfer philosophy so far, with the exception of Kerem Demirbay (who came in 2019 for 32 million as a 26-year-old).
Is Huijsen the favourite?
Bayer is therefore considering at least one alternative from abroad as a replacement for Tah. Dean Huijsen (19) from Juventus Turin would not be such a candidate, however. The top talent, who was loaned to AS Roma in the first half of the year and who, after only 14 appearances in Serie A (four of which were in the starting eleven) and two goals, is already valued at a transfer fee of 25 to 30 million euros, is believed by the Italian sports newspaper Tuttosport Bayer in the role of favorite.
However, the club could only consider the Spanish U-21 international if another central defender leaves Leverkusen in addition to Tah. But there are currently no signs of this.
2024-07-01 13:22:03
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