Arrivals
Long term centre-back target Kristoffer Ajer of Celtic has seemingly finally been granted his wish to leave Celtic, unfortunately for Leverkusen, his destination is Brentford. Despite reports that Celtic were going to play hardball on the transfer fee, supposedly wanting €23m, Brentford are set to only pay a fraction of that - €15m - according to the Northern Echo. A later article by Bild contains the information that we did actually agree a 4 year deal with Ajer himself and the Werkself were the only team he was interested in joining. Sad times for all involved.
A new central defender has been named as a player of interest for Leverkusen - Marc Guehi of Chelsea's U23's. He featured 44 times in all competitions at Swansea City in the Championship last year and thus played a key role in getting them to the Playoffs. We are set to miss out on yet another target though as according to the Athletic, he is due for medicals at Crystal Palace on Thursday. Chelsea are set to receive €23m in total from the deal - perhaps we dodged a bullet with this one as that money could surely be better spent.
Randal Kolo Muani, a 22-year-old centre forward from Nantes, is supposedly Bayer Leverkusen's priority, according to the French portal Foot sur 7. He has long been linked to the Bundesliga with Eintracht Frankfurt being the main rival for his signature. That his contract runs out next year and Ligue 1's general financial troubles, contributes to a reasonable expected transfer fee of €9m.
Kaio Jorge of Santos is another young attacker, this time 19-years-old, who we want according to @NonEvoluto on Twitter. He is a player that has been touted as the 'next Neymar' by some and that has been perpetually linked for a move to the Rhine. His contract expires at the end of 2021 and should cost just €2m. For a player of such potential surely there's a catch? There is - his agents and 'mum' want an extra €10m. Who would win the worst agent competition? Abdul Issahaku-Fatawu's or Kaio Jorge's? Juventus and Napoli are the other major clubs in the race for his signature.
Departures
With Bakker's recent arrival from PSG for €7m, it is clear that there will soon be a departure from either Sinkgraven or Wendell. Although there is fanciful speculation from fans that Bosz might want to bring Daley with him to Lyon, the clear candidate for change is Wendell whose contract expires next year. He has made no secret of his desire to return to his home country, specifically his former team Gremio, but perhaps that dream might be put on hold. Recent reports link him with a move to Italy. He is among players on Roma's wish list to replace Spinnazzola (the other main candidate being Alex Telles on loan) but given Roma prefer a permanent deal, Wendell is preferred according to Sky Sports. Elsewhere in Italy, Udinese have even made contact with Leverkusen over a deal with talks to intensify over the coming days and weeks as reported by tuttomercartoweb.com.
Bailey has been linked with moves away from Bayer from the day he joined, this time it is AC Milan. The Editor of Sport Italia, Rudy Galletti says he could be 'the surprise blow that the fans do not expect'. Milan first lost out with Thauvin to Tigres and Chelsea do not want to loan Ziyech either. Milan as it stands cannot afford Bailey due to Financial Fair Play and Leverkusen rightly do not want to loan him with an option to buy. Any movement by Milan would only be able to occur once the likes of Samu Castillejo are sold. Hopefully Rolfes and co. can hold out for a high sum of around €50m.
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