Arrivals
On the day which we celebrated a 5-1 win and a first Diaby hattrick, came some extremely exciting news every Bayer 04 fan had been praying for. As Sport Express in Russia reports, Sardar Azmoun of Zenit St Petersburg has 'practically agreed' personal terms with Leverkusen and could even move this winter, depending on the wishes of the Russian club. It had been said recently that the Iranian striker preferred to see out the rest of his contract and then leave the club on a free transfer. Were he to come early, what would this mean for Alario? No suitable offers have yet come for our current backup, who scored a very cheeky back heel goal, and he and his agent have clearly expressed his desire to remain in Germany...
Ekrem Konur claims that Bayer Leverkusen are looking at potentially bringing back former number one Bernd Leno back to the Bayarena. Since leaving for Arsenal back in 2018, he has enjoyed mixed success but since Aaron Ramsdale arrived from Sheffield United, he has had to settle for the bench. Newcastle would like to take him on loan but the goalkeeper would rather go back to the Bundesliga. Should Hradecky, Leno's successor, extend, which he has publicly stated he would like to, it would make a return highly unfeasible. If he does come back however, Bernd will surely go down as a Leverkusen legend.
Departures
The price of Mitchel Bakker has been set at £16m according to Craig Hope of the Daily Mail on Twitter. He continues to say that Leverkusen are 'prepared to sell' and are already looking for replacements for the Dutchman. Were we to sell, where would we look? There has been little news over the last few weeks in regard to new left backs, if any. The last interest shown in a left back, of note, was Sergio Gomez of RSC Anderlecht - the most offensively dangerous left back in Europe this season - but that was in early December and nothing concrete followed. Replacing him with someone of a similar age and quality in January represents a very difficult task for Simon Rolfes - if he is so willing to part with Bakker, perhaps he has pulled someone out of the hat already.
The agent of Lucas Alario, Pedro Aldave, says that his client will not go to Venezia this winter. Given Leverkusen are still playing in the Europa League, he says he is confident that Alario will be able to get game time and also that he is not interested on going on loan for only 6 months. Alario will make a decision about his future in the summer instead. Should Azmoun arrive in the winter, will the Argentine really be happy as a third choice striker for 6 months? It would surely make the most logical sense for Alario to leave in summer and Azmoun to join for free.
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