Matthias Ginter, Ozan Kabak, Kristoffer Ajer, Nico Schlotterbeck, Jeremiah St Juste. Five top defenders, five top price tags. With Sven Bender retiring, Dragovic leaving for free to Red Star Belgrade and the rumoured departures of Jedvaj (Lokomotiv Moscow) and Retsos (Olympiakos), not to mention Tah (Arsenal, Leicester City, Zenit St Petersburg), it is blindingly obvious that next season will require not just an overhaul of our central defence, but a transformation. With Tapsoba's unfortunate syndesmosis tear, the urgency to find new talent has only increased. Now I shall analyse the aforementioned candidates, suggesting potential price tags and how realistic, as it stands, a change to Leverkusen would be.
1) Matthias Ginter - €20m
Matthias Ginter, quite rightly is the dream transfer of pretty much every Bayer 04 fan. Just thinking of the potential partnership of Tapsoba and Ginter makes one giddy. Even a neutral would have to admit that would be the best duo in the Bundesliga. Given his contract situation and current market value, 20 million euros would be a fair price in my view. According to some Transfermarkt insiders, we should have already prepared social media posts welcoming him. However the big question remains of whether or not Leverkusen is an attractive enough destination for Ginter. Sure we could easily raise his salary to a level he would never get in Gladbach but he could get even more if he went to a Premier League club like Spurs or even Barcelona. We would certainly not be able to compete in regards to title chances against the Catalans. Gladbach would also be reluctant to sell arguably their best player to their direct rivals also. Would he mind being a big fish in a so-called small pond? With all that said, he hasn't agreed an extension with Gladbach so I would still dare to dream!
2) Ozan Kabak - €10m - €15m
Yes his Schalke team was the worst team many had ever seen in their lifetimes and yes he couldn't even make it into the starting 11 of the major disappointment of the Euros in Turkey. He is still however just 21 and still the same player we all fawned over just 2 seasons ago. According to some reports, his destination could be Leicester City and we are no longer so hot on him but with him taking a week off to decide his future, we won't have to speculate much longer anyway. Question marks arise with his tendency to make mistakes and also his character - he has moved quite a lot already for one so young and what was the reason for Liverpool to reject such a promising young talent for just 10 million euros (15 million below market value)? With Schalke in turmoil in pretty much all areas, they desperately need funds which would make him the most financially feasible option of the five by far and could even be bought without a departure from Tah. No offer has been made for him as of yet either.
3) Kristoffer Ajer - €23m
Celtic want £20m for him and that has supposedly meant all his suitors (Norwich, Brentford, Newcastle and us) have withdrawn from talks. That has made Ajer understandably angry which could potentially result in him sitting out next season at Celtic like his teammate Olivier Ntcham is supposedly set to do. Ajer is a player who, despite his relatively tender age of 23, has a wealth of experience, albeit not at the highest level by any stretch, boasting 23 caps for Norway. In terms of the fee, as it stands there is no reason at all to suggest we should pay what Celtic have asked for - we had made an offer of €15m which is way off the mark. If Ajer really wants to leave however, it is in Celtic's best interest to lower their demands as nobody wants an unhappy player in their dressing room, let alone a top earner. We are by far the biggest club in for him and according to Bild, he is our priority target. Frimpong no doubt will have put in a good word for us!
4) Nico Schlotterbeck - €15m
Coming off a great Euros being named in the official squad of the tournament, Schlotterbeck might be making a big move this summer. The Freiburg player possesses the mystical left foot that our management craves and is also of course young and German. His ceiling probably isn't so high that he would leave us within a couple of years either and were his brother to come as well, we could have the next generation of Benders. The price is quite reasonable and given his qualities, it is quite realistic that he could come. Leipzig however are supposedly interested as well though which could put a spanner in the works. No offer has yet been made for him either.
5) Jeremiah St Juste - €15m - €20m
St Juste is a defender like no other and indeed a player like no other - nobody was faster last year in the Bundesliga than him. Admittedly, I had been calling for him to come to Leverkusen since his Feyenoord days where you would see him bomb up the pitch creating and scoring goals as if he was a quicker Lucio. Of course being at a club like Mainz he hasn't been afforded that same freedom but at a team as dominant in games as Leverkusen, at least under Bosz, he might be able to express himself again. With St Juste, you can imagine him playing a similar role to what Kyle Walker does for England - he will be the first to every ball regardless of his positioning; very much a lifeline. With the high line we play he will be vital. He's the shortest of the five but boasts a good spring in his boots nonetheless. The problem arises with the competition for his signature - Dortmund and Wolfsburg have shown far greater interest as of late and the former definitely has money to burn after Sancho's exit and the possibility of a whopping €175 million windfall from Abramovich's Chelsea. They also both play Champions League of course which also counts against us. We could technically play a Dutch back four already but a Dutch back five?
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