Jonathan Tah leaves Bayer Leverkusen - what does that mean for the club?

Jonathan Tah leaves Bayer Leverkusen - what does that mean for the club?

Jonathan Tah, who has been playing for Bayer Leverkusen since 2015, will leave the club at the end of the season. This was confirmed by the 29-year-old central defender after a disappointing 1: 1 against St. Pauli. This ends an era: Tah played 398 competitive games during this time and developed into a defense chief and leaders. The departure had been foreseeable for almost a year, but only recently Tah himself expressed the decision not to extend his contract and look around for a new club. FC Barcelona is the favorite for these exchange considerations. Sport1 reports that the club managers, including managing directors Fernando Carro and sports boss Simon Rolfes, had given the opportunity to extend the contract, if necessary Tah should change his opinion.

The upcoming departure of Tah will pose significant problems with Bayer Leverkusen. The squad will experience changes anyway, regardless of the uncertain future of coach Xabi Alonso and the injured player Florian Wirtz. Another aspect is the uncertainties regarding the future of other central defenders in the team. According to the information from Welt Purchase options, which further unsettled the defense of the association.

risks for the defensive

In the worst case, four central defenders, including Tah, Hermoso, Mukiele and Piero Hincapié, could leave the club. Hincapié has an exit clause of 50 million euros that could attract potential interested parties such as Real Madrid, Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester United. Such a scenario would significantly weaken the defensive of Bayer Leverkusen, since only Edmond Tapsoba and the injured Jeanuël Belocian would remain.

In addition, the team faces another problem. The loss of Tah increases the challenge of meeting the requirements for the Champions League. Bayer Leverkusen needs at least eight locally trained players to be qualified for the competition. This season, however, the club only has five local players, which significantly limits the list of squad. The association will be forced to make more efforts to meet DFB-trained players to meet these requirements.

a sad farewell

Jonathan Tah's decision to leave Leverkusen comes in the last meters of a season that was rather disappointing for the team. Both in the DFB Cup and in the Champions League, the club left early, and after the draw against St. Pauli there is only a theoretical chance of the championship title. In the 20222/2023 season, however, Tah was still able to celebrate great success, including winning the championship and the DFB Cup and participation in the Europa League final. It remains to be seen whether he can repeat these successes with a new club.