Arrivals
According to Le10sport information, Leverkusen are among the clubs showing interest in FC Sochaux's Alan Virginius. The 19-year-old winger was one of France's stand out stars in the recent U19 Euros, mustering an impressive 3 goals and 3 assists in just 4 appearances. The Ligue 2 club rate their youngster highly - between €7m and €10m to be more precise. Alongside the Werkself, Anderlecht, Newcastle and Club Brugge are in the race with Anderlecht already having submitted their first offer.
A report by L'Equipe states that Lucas Gourna-Douath of St Etienne should interest Bayer Leverkusen. His market value amounts to €10m and this is also the amount that the relegated record champions should ask for from his suitors. Despite his youth, the highly talented 18-year-old, physically strong, defensive midfielder has already made 61 Ligue 1 appearances so would be an option for the present as well as one for the future. Alongside Bayer 04, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund are looking at the player.
Departures
SV Werder Bremen's Frank Baumann has made it clear that the signing of Mitchell Weiser is unlikely to happen, saying, "With Mitch, the tendency is very clear that it won't work. In this respect, we will now pursue other options there". Our 28-year-old outcast is said to be stalling the move himself as he is demanding severance pay from Bayer 04, a sum said to total in the millions. This was emphasised by Werder's Sporting Director who said "a solution would have definitely been found between Leverkusen and Werder". It is in the interest of all parties for a solution to be found, quickly with Simon Rolfes publicly saying that he has told Weiser that he has no future with the team.
French news site L.Frii reports that Edmond Tapsoba is in the sights of Bayern Munich. It even claims that talks are ongoing between the two clubs. Whilst the position of our management is clear - no key players will be sold this summer - it is generally agreed among those who follow Leverkusen that if such a player were to leave it would likely be Tapsoba, a player whose performance has unfortunately stagnated over the course of the past season. It isn't conceivable however that we would give him up to our direct rivals in Bayern when it goes against what has been our club's transfer policy for over a decade. Letalon.net claim the Burkinabe's agent Deco is actively working on bringing his client to Barcelona as they themselves are very interested in him but this would of course raise questions about their ability to afford a player likely valued at around €50m.
Piero Hincapie has been subject to an offer from Tottenham Hotspur according to Kicker, estimated to be worth 40 million euros - an incredible sum given Leverkusen paid just €6.35m to Talleres last summer. However, rather than jumping at the opportunity to sell, journalist Marcos Duran says that Bayer 04 and Hincapie, also contacted by AC Milan, should be in talks to improve the terms of his current contract; richly deserved given his unexpectedly quick acclimatisation to the Bundesliga and his status in the squad.
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