Bayer Leverkusen sign former Bayern Munich target Amine Adli from Toulouse

Amine Adli has agreed to join Bayer Leverkusen from Toulouse on a five-year deal worth €15 million.

Adli was linked with Bayern Munich earlier this summer, but the club’s front office was put off by having to pay more than €10 million for the attacker even though they were pursuing the option of including some of their youth talents for a potential swap deal. In the end, Leverkusen was more than willing to pay the €15 million transfer fee to acquire the French youngster and he could feature as early as this weekend when Die Werkself travel to Augsburg.

Leverkusen sporting director Simon Rolfes referred to the club’s new signing as the “final piece of the puzzle” when the announcement was made official (Bundesliga). “This is another very important move for us at the end of the transfer period. Amine Adli is the final piece of the puzzle. He’s very fast with good technique, is extremely agile and tricky. I’m we’ll have a lot of fun with him in the years to come,” Rolfes explained.

The 21-year-old is excited to get his new chapter started in North Rhine-Westphalia. “Bayer are a club I find extremely appealing. I really wanted to come here. Leverkusen has a style of play that totally suits me. I can’t wait to play football with these guys - it’s going to be great fun,” he said.

BFW Analysis

With the current situation with negotiations to try to sign Marcel Sabitzer from RB Leipzig, it should come as no surprise that Bayern wasn’t willing to pay €10 million or more for Adli. Acquiring Sabitzer from Leipzig for a mere €18 million seems like it’s almost too good to be true, but Bayern is even trying to finagle that price down before the transfer window closes next week.

Adli is also technically listed as a secondary striker, but can be loosely qualified as an attacking midfielder, a department of the pitch that Bayern is already well equipped in between Serge Gnabry, Leroy Sane, Kingsley Coman, Thomas Muller, and Jamal Musiala. From that standpoint, emphasizing the Sabitzer move takes much more precedent given that he can play as a central midfielder, winger, or as a central attacking midfielder. For someone with his proven quality and versatility, it makes perfect sense on paper to have passed on Adli for the eventual €15 million that Leverkusen paid for him if it means being able to swing Sabitzer to have a reunion with Julian Nagelsmann at Bayern.

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