Bayer Leverkusen wants Niclas Füllkrug to find a substitute for Patrick Schick, who has been out of commission for a while.
Injured Schick could be replaced by a German cult striker
Schick has long since dropped out of contention. Due to his groin injury, the Czech striker missed the last match for Bayer Leverkusen in March and is not anticipated to play again around the last week of October.
According to BILD, Füllkrug, a late bloomer, represents one of the contenders to succeed Schick. Since the conclusion of last year, Werder Bremen’s thirty-year-old striker, who led the Bundesliga in goals scored with sixteen last season, has been the first attacker for the German national team.
No done deal yet
The transfer of Füllkrug is not yet a done deal. General manager Simon Rolfes refuses to talk about names for the time being: ‘We look at which players are available and then make an assessment. Certainly from a financial point of view it is not easy to sign a good striker.’
Bayer Leverkusen will have to pay a transfer fee to Werder Bremen to take over Füllkrug. The German striker still has a two-year contract in Bremen.
Bakker leaves Bundesliga and joins Atalanta
In other Bundesliga transfer news, Mitchel Bakker continues his career in Serie A. Atalanta Bergamo has reached an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen. About the transfer of the 23-year-old left back, who has also passed the medical examination.
After his departure from Ajax in 2019, Bakker is already ready for his third foreign club. After his transfer-free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, he made another transfer to Leverkusen for seven million euros in 2021, for which he played seventy times in all competitions in the past two seasons.
However, the arrival of Alejandro Grimaldo (Benfica) clouded the perspective of playing time for Bakker. Leverkusen was willing to cooperate in a transfer and reportedly received about ten million euros for the ex-Ajacied.
Bakker was also in the interest of Werder Bremen, according to Italian reports. But eventually opted for a switch to Italy. At Atalanta he will have to compete with Danish international Joakim Maehle and Sead Kolasinac. Who was also recruited this week.
