The season started brightly in August 2024 for Bayer Leverkusen. The team finally won their first ever Bundesliga title under the young coach Xabi Alonso, and they did it in the most glorius fashion – as undefeated. Leverkusen also won the Germany Cup and the Cuper Cup last season and their only defeat that time was from Atalanta in the UEFA Europa League. The team basically stayed the same, with Florian Wirtz and Xabi Alonso, the club‘s biggest starts both decided to stay, and the future looked bright. But now, at the end of April, things are looking gloomy indeed as the club looks to lose three key persons come May.Jonathan Tah officially confirmed that he’ll leave the club this summer after yesterday’s game: “Everything was said from the start. There was a point in time when I made the decision not to extend my contract and not to stay here and it remains that way now.”[via @kicker] pic.twitter.com/Bu9nKWpL3o— WerkselfXtra (@bayer04Xtra) April 21, 2025 Everything started with Real Madrid‘s loss to Arsenal in the Champions League. As always, the current European champions (not for long) are convinced that they have to win the competition every single year and even if they have the greatest coach in the history of football, they have no problem of letting him go. So, with multiply reports of Carlo Ancelotti‘s imminent departure from Real, talks about Xabi Alonso early exit have intensified. It was planned (if you can plan anything in football) that both Alonso and Wirtz will stay in Leverkusen until 2026. Then the Spaniard would take over from Ancelotti, while Wirtz could end up either in Real, Manchester City or Bayern Munich.Shock for Bavarians! Barca steal defender from under Bayern’s nose?!But no matter what happens with the two men, the third is going in May for sure. Jonathan Tah confirmed he will leave Bayer at the end of the season as a free agent.”Yes, definitely. To be honest, I don’t have a timeframe. But the club knows about it. And, as I have always done, I’ve communicated everything very openly. Everything was said from the beginning. There was a point when I made the decision not to extend my contract and not to stay here, and that’s how it’s going now“ he told Kicker after yesterday‘s game with St. Pauli.Title hopes are fading: Bayer only draw in HamburgThe Germany defender joined Leverkusen in 2015 and played all these years, but felt last August that after 286 appearances, it‘s time to move on. But, Leverkusen dragged their negotiations with Bayern and eventually put a big price so the deal was off. That triggered Tah to decide not to sign a new contract and Bayer will not get a penny from him now. And he is free to sign with Bayern Munich and replace players like Eric Dier or Kim Min-jae. His logical destination was supposed to be Barcelona, and he apparently agreed personal terms with the Catalans, but their financial insecurity and the situation regarding the registration of Dani Olmo is too unpredictable. Still, Tah will have enough time to decide what to do come May.##NAJAVA_MECA_8867651##
