Bellarabi is absent from Bayer Leverkusen until further notice – Tah suffers a bruise with bleeding

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Converted into euros, Ralf Falkenmayer was the first transfer of millions from Leverkusen. The midfielder came to Bayer in 1987 as a new hope from Eintracht Frankfurt. But Falkenmayer did not feel comfortable in his new environment and returned to the Hessians two years and 62 games later. After all, he did win the 1988 UEFA Cup, although he missed his penalty on penalties in the second leg against Espanyol Barcelona.

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His successor stayed at the top of the list of club-internal record arrivals for just one year. Despite other offers, center forward Manfred Kastl decided in the summer of 1988 to move from HSV to Leverkusen. Despite Kastl’s brief appearance, his transfer fee of 1.2 million euros was almost completely recovered when he moved on to VfB Stuttgart in 1989.

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In the phase of the reunification of FRG and GDR, Leverkusen wrote German football history and, with Andreas Thom, brought the first East German professional into the Bundesliga. Manager Reiner Calmund had cleverly arranged the deal together with Wolfgang Karnath (further information in the TM interview from 2015). The equivalent of 1.3 million euros went to BFC Dynamo for Thom, who quickly developed into a top performer at his new club.

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The success story of the second Bayer signing from the former GDR was even greater. Ulf Kirsten, who came from Dynamo Dresden in the summer of 1990 for 1.8 million euros, stayed in Leverkusen until the end of his career, was top scorer three times, won the cup and is still a club legend to this day. His move also caused a stir, after all, BVB and VfL Bochum were also competing for the attacker. Kirsten had signed an option contract with Bochum, with which BVB had previously reached an agreement, as he subsequently did in a Interview with the “mirror” explained.

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There were also remarkable circumstances when signing Markus Feldhoff in the summer of 1995 from Uerdingen. BVB was interested again, but this time Eintracht Frankfurt was ahead with an offer of 2 million euros. Despite this high sum for the time, Feldhoff switched to Leverkusen. Background: Bayer AG had previously left Uerdingen, but took on outstanding liabilities in order to guide Feldhoff to the Leverkusen site. The striker stayed there for three years, which, apart from highlights such as his three goals in 1997 against Bayern Munich, were rather mediocre.

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New signings from Brazil have a long tradition at Leverkusen and often left a lasting impression under the Bayer Cross. However, ex-manager Reiner Calmund described one who only played 23 games for Leverkusen as the “economically” best purchase. Ze Elias came along after the good experience tita, Jorginho and Paulo Sergio 1996 for 3 million euros as a new record transfer, but left the club after just one season for Inter Milan. Calmund was able to look forward to a profit of 2.6 million euros and also received a compatriot from the outgoing player Emerson recommended a possible successor, who was promptly called.

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3.5 million euros cost Émerson, but another Brazilian, Paulo Rink, secured the status of Leverkusen’s new record acquisition in the same summer. The later DFB striker, who received a German passport because of his great-grandfather, came from Paranaense for 4 million euros and formed a duo with Ulf Kirsten for several years. After 121 games, 35 goals and later loans to Santos and Nuremberg, his contract was not renewed in the summer of 2002.

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for Ze Roberto, who had previously failed to make it at Real Madrid, handed Leverkusen €7m, making it the most expensive signing by a German club up to that point in general. The winger was subsequently part of the team that reached the Champions League final in 2002. However, Zé Roberto missed out on the 2-1 defeat by Real Madrid due to too many yellow cards and switched to Bayern Munich the following summer, where he was also promoted to what was then a record deal for a fee of 9.5 million euros.

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for Lucio, also part of the Champions League finalists, in January 2001 Bayer paid a record sum for a Brazilian for the fourth time in a row. An investment that paid off. The defender played well in the Bundesliga, was notorious for his not always risk-free advances and became world champion in 2002 with the “Seleção”. Two years later he finally left Leverkusen and, like Zé Roberto before him, moved to Munich with a transfer win for Bayer.

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Leverkusen paid between 8 and 9.5 million euros (there are different information about the fee). France out, who was brought after the lost CL final and was generally referred to as the new record addition in club history. The expectations of the striker, who had just missed the 2002 World Cup due to an injury, were correspondingly high. After a first season that was disappointing for both the player and the club, França thrived in the second season, scoring 27 points in 33 games. But only one season later the high was over, the Brazilian did not feel well, pushed for a change and after a long back and forth was finally sold to Japan for 2.5 million euros.

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The transfer record lasted until 2013 – then Bayer snapped up Heung Min Son and signed the South Korean shooting star for 10 million euros from Hamburger SV. The offensive man also impressed at his new club and was sold to Tottenham for €30m just two years later. Until the departure of Kai Havertz to Chelsea in the summer of 2020, this was Leverkusen’s record income. Also Bernd Leno, who joined the club in January 2012, cost a total of 10 million euros. However, the original fee was EUR 7.5 million. Only after the goalkeeper left Arsenal in 2018 did the transfer fee rise into the double-digit million range thanks to a resale participation for VfB Stuttgart.

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Like Son also came Hakan Calhanoğlu a year later for a record sum from HSV. 14.5 million euros went to Hamburg after a long haggling and a public farewell wish from the Turkish national player. At Bayer, he was particularly impressive in his debut season before, after a mediocre second season in his third year at Leverkusen, he was banned for four months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport because of a contract signed with Trabzonspor in 2011. After that suspension, Calhanoglu joined Milan in 2017 for €23.3m.

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for Kevin Volland Bayer broke the 20 million mark for the first time in the summer of 2016, which was to fall again only a short time later.

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A short time later, the Austrian even costs a million more than Volland. Dynamo Kyiv’s President Surkis confirmed the fee for Aleksandar Dragovic recently in an interview. His contract runs until 2021.

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For the Argentine Lucas Alario Leverkusen activated an exit clause on August 31, 2017, despite strong protests from River Plate. With a transfer fee of 24 million euros, the highest sum paid by Bayer to date became due.

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It was then in the summer of 2019 Kerem Demirbay, who set a new high with his 32 million transfer fee. Leverkusen also made use of an opt-out clause for the midfielder, who, like Volland, came from Hoffenheim. Demirbay is under contract with Bayer until 2024.