Despite Simon Rolfes claiming that this winter there will be no activity on the transfer market, it has not stopped the media from coming up with a slew of names that we would supposedly be linked with, either for this transfer window or the summer. Below is the complete list of every single player who has been linked with a move to Bayer Leverkusen between the end of the summer 2021 window to now in chronological order…
Early in September, Bild reported that Leverkusen were particularly interested in 16-year-old Italy U17 international centre back Fabio Chiarodia of Werder Bremen. In October however, the young defender signed a contract with the Werder professionals until 2023, with whom he had been training with for a long time.
A player with which we had been linked with over the summer, a couple of weeks after the window closed, it was revealed by Turkish outlet DHA that Burak Ince, a 17-year-old central midfielder of Turkish side Altinordu FK, had agreed on a 3 year deal with an unknown Bundesliga club and would leave the club in January just as he turns 18. It was a head to head battle between Arminia Bielefeld and Bayer Leverkusen but in this case, Arminia came out victorious, signing the young maestro for €2.5m.
Fichajes claimed that Watford, RC Lens and Bayer Leverkusen have set their sights on the Brazilian playmaker Bruno Praxedes of RB Bragantino. The estimated price of the player lies between 8 and 15 million euros.
Fichajes reported that two teams were interested in signing Matias Zaracho of Atletico Mineiro - River Plate and Bayer Leverkusen. The Argentine, who normally plays as a 10, was subject to an offer from Bayer Leverkusen in September according to journalist Jorge Nicola - €17m. The Brazilian club deny any proposals have been received for Zaracho.
Another young Werder central defender (but a bit more developed at 20), Maik Nawrocki is being watched closely by Bayer Leverkusen. He is currently playing on loan at Legia Warsaw, starting in all of their Europa League games, and is also part of Poland’s U21 squad.
The Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez was approached by Leverkusen last summer over a possible transfer reports FussballTransfers. The extortionate price (a release clause of around €150m) and the fact that the player himself is not keen on a move to Germany makes the transfer’s likelihood 0%.
Leverkusen are among a host of top European sides keen on signing 18-year-old attacking midfielder Kacper Kozlowski from Pogon Szczecin according to the Mirror. Likened to Kevin De Bruyne, he has already made his senior national team debut, appearing in the Euros in the summer, becoming the youngest ever player to do so. The Polish team are not willing to sell in January but could be more open to a deal in the summer.
The latest superstar in Argentinian football, Julian Alvarez has been nothing short of a revelation this season racking up an incredible 35 goals and assists across 41 appearances in all competitions this season. His strong performances have not gone unnoticed by Leverkusen who according to Calciomercato are interested in the player whose contract with River Plate expires in winter 2022 and has a release clause in the region of €20m - €25m. Recently, River’s Vice President Jorge Brito revealed that the club are actively trying to renew his contract amid interest from a rumoured 14 clubs.
Calciomercato reports that Bayer Leverkusen and Sardar Azmoun of Zenit St Petersburg remain in contact and are in advanced negotiations over a free transfer in the summer. This is after a failed move in the last window where a transfer only just failed to cross the line after Zenit were unable to find a suitable replacement for the Iranian. According to Championat, despite interest from the likes of Arsenal, Tottenham and Lyon, the striker only ever wanted to go to Bayer Leverkusen, feeling his style of play better fits the German game. Our former coach Peter Bosz, who had links to Azmoun even in his Leverkusen days is apparently desperate to get ahead in the race for the player, even being willing to pay a transfer fee in January before loaning him back to Zenit until the end of the season claims Le Quotien du Sport.
According to Fichajes’ information, Leverkusen are very interested in acquiring Alex Collado. Due to the winger being unregistered for either Barcelona’s first or second team, he has not been able to play at all this season which has led to Barcelona being supposedly intent on terminating his contract, meaning a free transfer would be possible. Nicolo Schira also tweeted that Leverkusen had even approached the Spaniard with a contract lasting until 2025 and cited Barcelona’s lack of flexibility as a possible reason which might make them averse from making a move in January. A move was not to be, however, as Barcelona have agreed with Granada to send him on loan until the end of the season.
Yet another 16 year old centre back, Omar Mekkaoui of NAC Breda’s U18s, who has already been called up to the Dutch U21 squad, has attracted the interest of Dortmund, Leverkusen, Juventus, Ajax among others, writes BN DeStern. However, according to the player himself, his primary focus is on getting a contract with Breda’s first team as quickly as possible.
In September, MSV Foot on Twitter claimed that Bayer Leverkusen scouts were present to watch the 29-year-old French wing back Jonathan Clauss of RC Lens play against Lille. A couple of weeks later, they tweeted an update that due to the interest of AS Monaco and OGC Nice, Leverkusen may be pressured to make a move earlier than they anticipated with Lens demanding €15m. MSV Foot in late November claimed that Leverkusen had intended to make an offer to sign Clauss in the winter transfer window but negotiations were ‘brief’ and those in charge of the French club had no desire to let the fullback go. Scouts of Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg were also present at the more recent match between Angers and Lens but the player under observation was not specified.
MSV Foot on Twitter claims that Leverkusen should, in addition to Clauss, be interested in hiring Ignace Van der Brempt of Club Brugge and Michal Karbownik (on loan at Olympiakos from Brighton).
According to Fussball Transfers, Bayer Leverkusen have an eye on 20-year-old central midfielder Eric Junior Dina Ebimbe from PSG and would like to sign him in the winter transfer window. The player himself should be keen on a move as L’Equipe reported that he had turned down an offer from the capital club to extend his contract due to a lack of match practice. With the Africa Cup of Nations this winter, PSG would be reluctant to let him leave however.
Continuing from the last transfer window, Leverkusen are still considering the signing of Arsenal striker, and England U21 record goalscorer. Eddie Nketiah, this time for a free transfer in the summer once his contract expires. Sky Sports also reported that he had rejected a final contract offer from Arsenal meaning he will definitely leave at the end of June 2022 at the latest due to a lack of match practice.
According to Nicolo Schira on Twitter, Bayer Leverkusen have opened talks with Augsburg over a transfer of young striker Dzenan Pejcinovic whose contract expires in the summer.
Peter Kisfaludy, Sports Director of 3rd tier Swedish team IF Brommapojkarna, confirmed to Fotbollskanalen that 15-year-old striker Jardell Kanga went to Leverkusen to participate in a trial session. He has already scored 5 goals and assisted once in 23 appearances and is a Swedish U17 international which truly demonstrates his quality and limitless potential.
In late November, Fox Sports initially reported that Carlos Acevedo of Santos Laguna, a highly talented ‘young’ (25) goalkeeper who is Ochoa’s successor as Mexico’s number one, has been followed by Bayer Leverkusen for a very long time. Less than a week later after the first initial reports, sources claiming to be close to the Mexican club said that an informal agreement had been reached between the two teams for an undisclosed sum. This naturally sent Mexican football fans everywhere into delirium but it wasn’t to last for long as Simon Rolfes was quick to dismiss the rumours as ‘absolute nonsense’ - an entirely logical exclamation as with Lunev we have a more than capable back-up goalkeeper already.
According to 90min.de, Leverkusen are interested in Gabigol, the former Brazilian wonderkid that used to be the subject of comparisons to Neymar. Now 25 and having rebuilt his career after his failed spell in Europe with Inter Milan, then Benfica on loan, he is now ready to make the leap of faith once again into European football, having managed to win the top goalscorer award in the Copa Libertadores for 2 out of the past 3 seasons. There are plenty of Premier League clubs interested in the centre forward and that is where Gabigol himself prefers to go. The cost of a move would be around €35m.
Voetbalprimeur.nl writes that Bayer Leverkusen were among the teams that were present in the stands at the match between Anderlecht and Charleroi to watch Sergio Gomez, a Spanish U21 international formerly of Borussia Dortmund. The player is having the season of his career so far, especially in the attacking sense - no left back in the top leagues worldwide can boast as many goals and assists as he can (12 as of 10/12/2021)
According to 90min.de, Adam Hlozek, Schick’s Czech Republic strike partner, is on the list of Bayer Leverkusen. However, due to the Sparta President, Daniel Kretinsky, having shares in West Ham, they are believed to be the favourites. In addition to the East London club, Dortmund should also have notable interest, viewing him as a potential alternative for Karim Adeyemi should that deal fail.
Bild claims that 25-year-old Schalke wing-back Thomas Ouwejan (on loan from AZ Alkmaar) is being observed by Bayer Leverkusen and Monchengladbach among other clubs. The Dutchman is impressing in the 2. Bundesliga with a very respectable 2 goals and 7 assists (10/12/2021) but should not cost the earth - the player has an obligation to buy of just 2 million euros should Schalke achieve promotion and given they are only midtable at this stage in the season, that may not be a likely scenario.
According to the Hannoversche Allgemeine, Simon Rolfes was at the HDI Arena in Hannover to watch the game between Hannover 96 and Hamburger SV, more specifically to watch Maximilian Beier, the 19 year old striker on loan from Hoffenheim. In that particular match, the young German, likened to Lewandowski in his style of play, played a starring role, setting up Linton Maina’s winning goal in their 1-0 win. Hannover would very much like to keep Beier with their Sports Director Marcus Mann saying, “If there is any possibility of keeping him longer, then we will try that”. Hoffenheim also have him in their future plans.
According to Bild, Leverkusen and 7 other Bundesliga clubs would be interested in hiring the 20-year-old winger Faride Alidou from HSV. Due to the fact his contract expires at the end of the season and that he has a very low salary of less than 1 million euros a year, he has proven to be an extremely attractive proposition for Bundesliga clubs. He recently turned down a chance to prolong his stay with Hamburg with him seemingly intent on departing. It is Eintracht Frankfurt who are said to have the upper hand at this current time.
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