Bundesliga leaders Bayer Leverkusen will be without their new striker Borja Iglesias in today’s match against Borussia Monchengladbach. Even though the loan of the Betis’ attacker has been arranged, the paperwork hasn’t been concluded in time so there won’t be a debut for the experienced Spaniard. Bayer has completed all its homework. After agreeing first with the player and then with his club on a loan deal with an option to buy for $9 million in July, the former Spanish international (with two caps), who trained with Real Betis on Thursday, has undergone the mandatory medical check in Spain before flying to Germany.🔴⚫️ Borja Iglesias already completed first part of medical tests as new Bayer Leverkusen player.The move will be sealed in the next days, it’s all done. Here we go, confirmed. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/fBd3CRSc5o— owoichoukwaemmanuel (@owoichoukwaemm1) January 27, 2024 However, since Borja Iglesias still has to participate in training with Betis, the check took place in Seville. With this, Bayer has also cleared the last potential hurdle for the transfer, one that the club could influence. Since the transfer window in Germany closes on Wednesday, it would have been negligent to wait too long for the medical check until Real Betis signs a replacement for Borja Iglesias. This is still a prerequisite for the deal to be finalized – and the Andalusians seem convinced that they will soon find a replacement.Just imagine if Real Betis could only present a replacement on Tuesday, for example, and the transfer of Borja Iglesias failed on the same day due to medical tests. Then Bayer would hardly have had a chance to react by signing another striker. This scenario is now ruled out, so the Bayer officials only have to wait for the completion from the Spanish side. As a successor to the 31-year-old Iglesias, the ninth-placed team has two candidates shortlisted. Either Raul de Tomas from Rayo Vallecano or Chimy Avila from Osasuna is expected to fill the gap that would be left by Bayer’s new attacking option.##NAJAVA_MECA_7828775##In Leverkusen, due to the progress communicated internally by Betis in the search for a striker, they are confident that the completion will happen soon – and that Borja Iglesias will be able to sign with Bayer. Ideally, this would have been done by Friday afternoon., so that the centre-forward could have been registered with the DFL in time and thus could have been included in the squad for the home game against Borussia Monchengladbach today. However, the scenario of a rapid debut for the new striker on Saturday does not work out, as coach Xabi Alonso confirmed on Friday that his new striker will not be available against Gladbach.”He can be an important player for us. I know him very well, but it is not official yet. I hope he will be with us soon.” The striker is likely to be in attendance for the Gladbach game.BUNDESLIGA – MATCHDAY 19FridayEintracht Frankfurt – Mainz 1-0 (0-0)/Gotze 73/Saturday 17.30: (8.50) Augsburg (5.60) Bayern (1.32)17.30: (1.70) Hoffenheim (3.90) Heidenheim (4.90)17.30: (2.70) Stuttgart (3.40) RB Leipzig (2.55)17.30: (2.50) Werder (3.40) Freiburg (2.80)17.30: (1.83) Wolfsburg (3.50) Koln (4.50)20.30: (1.30) Leverkusen (5.90) M’ gladbach (9.00)Sunday 17.30: (1.65) Union Berlin (4.00) Darmstadt (6.00)19.30: (1.35) Dortmund (5.30) Bochum (8.00)***odds are subject to change
