Where are they now? The first 8 Bayer Leverkusen players sold by Xabi Alonso
In October 2022, Xabi Alonso stepped into senior management for the first time with Bayer Leverkusen. What followed was extraordinary.
Pulling the team immediately away from the relegation zone, Bayer finished sixth despite enduring their worst-ever start to a Bundesliga season. That was an achievement in itself, but it was blown out of the water when he guided them to their first-ever Bundesliga in 2023-24, going unbeaten in the process.
Not everyone could go on that journey, however. Here are the first eight players to be sold by Alonso and what they’re up to now.
Moussa Diaby
Having quickly turned into one of the most dangerous players in the Bundesliga with 14 goals and 11 assists in all competitions in 2022-23, Leverkusen cashed in on Diaby in the summer of 2023 when Aston Villa coughed up a club-record £51.9million fee.
He only spent one season in the Premier League before Villa somehow sold him for nearly the same price, with Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad paying them £50million for the winger.
Mitchel Bakker
The left-back spent two years with Leverkusen before moving to Italy to sign for Atalanta.
It felt like a move that suited Bakker, but after just one season under Gian Piero Gasperini, he now finds himself out on loan in Ligue 1 with Lille.
Kerem Demirbay
Signed after an impressive spell at Hoffenheim, Leverkusen got a solid three years out of Demirbay before selling him onto Galatasaray in the summer of 2023 for a nominal fee.
The midfielder, now 31, has remained in Turkey since and won a league and cup double in his first season with Gala.
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Paulinho
Leverkusen tried to get ahead of the curve by signing a teenage Paulinho from Vasco Da Gama in 2018, but it never really worked out in Germany and he returned to Brazil in 2023.
He signed for Atletico Mineiro on loan that January, before his move was made permanent in the summer. The 24-year-old has been capped once for Brazil and remains in his native country with Atletico to this day.
Still, plenty of time for Paulinho to make it work in Europe.
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Daley Sinkgraven
A product of Heerenveen and Ajax, Sinkgraven reunited with former Ajax manager Peter Bosz in Leverkusen in 2019, who was in post until 2021 when Alonso took over.
Sinkgraven’s contract wasn’t renewed in 2023 and he joined Las Palmas on a free transfer. That means he’s currently teammates with Adnan Januzaj, Oli McBurnie, Scott McKenna and fellow Dutchman Jasper Cillesen. Some squad.
Andrey Lunev
Lunev made just two Bundesliga appearances in the two years he spent at Leverkusen before signing for Qarabag in the summer of 2023.
The goalkeeper only spent one season with the Azerbaijani club, though, before returning to his native Russia this summer to sign for Dynamo Moscow.
Ayman Azhil
Azhil has endured a strange career thus far. He signed for Leverkusen in 2020 and spent two years on loan in the Netherlands with Waalwijk, before returning but being unable to break into the first-team.
Borussia Dortmund then signed him on a free transfer in 2023 and after a spell with their second team last season, he’s now appeared once for the first-team this season.
The 23-year-old is proof that the path isn’t always linear. Leverkusen might live to regret this one.
Joshua Eze
Eze didn’t move too far away from Leverkusen after leaving the club, even if he did drop into the Regionalliga.
He joined Fortuna Koln on a free transfer and still plays his football there now. The 21-year-old midfielder has appeared 12 times this season and already weighed in with a goal and an assist.