Remain “in your own hands again”
Jonathan Tah (27) has been with Bayer Leverkusen for almost eight years to the day. That’s not enough for the top 20 in the Bundesliga comparison of the players who are most loyal to the club, but contrary to recent expectations, there could still be some time under the Bayer Cross. The “Werkself” are at least planning with the central defender for the time being.
Tah, who has a contract until 2025, could have drawn an exit clause by July 10, as was announced a few weeks ago. That didn’t happen. “We definitely have it back in our own hands because the clause has expired,” Managing Director Simon Rolfes told the magazine.table football“.
According to reports, the amount of the contract option was 18 million euros – just below the market value at the time of Tah’s last contract extension in late summer 2021. After a small upswing afterwards, the market value of the native of Hamburg oriented downwards again over the course of the past season roughly the level of two years ago.
Rolfes on Tah and the transfer window: “There can still be some movement”
All the time, the former HSV pupil in Leverkusen continued to improve his icon status. None of the current Bayer team can match the 305 competitive appearances of the native of Hamburg am Rhein. No professional apart from substitute keeper Niklas Lomb (29) has been under contract with Bayer for nearly as long as Tah, who was brought in from the “Rothosen” in 2015 for 7.5 million euros. “He was an important player,” Rolfes said a few weeks ago about his protégé, when the manager’s choice of words was not the only reason why a farewell was in the offing much more strongly than it is now.
Most appearances for Bayer Leverkusen: Tah in the 300 club
“That’s why we’re assuming in our planning that he’ll stay,” said Rolfes, now with a view to the non-activated exit clause, although this apparently cannot be understood as the player’s final commitment to Leverkusen – and that based on reciprocity. Rolfes explains: “Basically, the transfer window is of course still a few weeks open, so there can still be some movement.” According to Rolfes, Tah is in good physical shape. “That is the basis, the basis for the next steps.”
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