Arrivals
It's finally happened! Piero Hincapie has been officially unveiled as a Bayer 04 player! The Ecuadorian signs a contract running until 2026, will wear the number 33 and we should pay a fee of €8m. With him, we can now focus our attention on other areas i.e. a top winger. With Tapsoba, Tah, Kossounou and Hincapie we surely possess the best set of young central defenders in one club. The future of Retsos is now very uncertain, not long ago it was said that if another centre back came, he would be on his way out of the club. However, I am, like every other fan, very excited to see Piero in action and wish him the best of luck in the black and red shirt!
Yesterday, Kicker credited Leverkusen as being interested in Julian Draxler with an unspecified Bundesliga club even making an offer. It makes a lot of sense on paper with him being more of a half 10 than an out and out winger, something that is preferred in Seoane's system. He would cost less than €20m. Now the situation with him appears very different with Bild emphasising that the PSG man is not on our radar. There has been a lot of media noise around ourselves and the Parisians so maybe there is something going on which we do not yet know about...
According to Kicker, Robert Andrich is on his way to Leverkusen. His medicals should be complete and the transfer will be announced imminently. Contract details are not yet known, neither is a transfer fee, He would join a very deep midfield with lots of competition for places. The challenge for Seoane will be how to give every player the game time they feel like they deserve. Even with the Europa League it will be a tough ask.
A second chance for Santiago Arias? According to Sky, we are said to be nearing an agreement with the Colombian for a loan deal with option to buy and he will come at some point before the end of the transfer window. This will leave us with 4 right backs - Arias, Frimpong, Fosu-Mensah and Weiser. We already know that Weiser is on the list of sales candidates, so what happens to the others? Will Fosu-Mensah move into the centre or will Frimpong, who has clear deficiencies when it comes to defending move further up the pitch? What a window we are having!
Departures
Bola in Portugal report that Wendell is on the wish list of FC Porto with the Dragons not satisfied with the performances of Zaidu and Manafa. In addition to Porto, Fenerbahce has also supposedly got an eye on the Brazilian. Those two clubs join Benfica, Udinese and Fenerbahce, all of which have made offers of €5m (too low for Bayer who request at least €6m). Gremio were also talking to Wendell but he has made it clear he does not yet want to leave Europe. The introduction of Hincapie brings in yet another left sided player into the equation, which should mean negotiations around Wendell's departure will surely accelerate.
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