Kerim Alajbegovic: Record Transfer Without Playing for Leverkusen
The World Cup contingent came back through the doors at Bayer Leverkusen on Monday, suntans fading, focus snapping back to club business. Among them: Kerim Alajbegovic, 18 years old, already a World Cup player, already a national-team record holder – and on the brink of becoming a Bundesliga record sale without having played a single professional minute for the club.
He is back, but only just. Leverkusen will keep him wrapped in cotton wool.
“He will be there on Monday for the return of the World Cup players,” sporting director Simon Rolfes told Bild. Present, but barely involved. The risk is simply too great. One twist of an ankle now, one bad tackle, and a transfer that could rewrite the Bundesliga’s record books collapses.
The Numbers Behind the Hype
The outlines of the deal are staggering. According to Bild, Chelsea have already put 40 million euros on the table for the attacking midfielder. That figure hits Leverkusen’s valuation and would set a new benchmark in Germany: no Bundesliga club has ever bought or sold an Under-19 player for more.
The current high-water mark belongs to Bayern Munich, who paid around 35 million euros to Benfica for Renato Sanches in 2016. Alajbegovic is poised to go beyond that before his 19th birthday.
From Leverkusen’s perspective, the absurdity is obvious. They are not cashing in on a long‑serving star, not offloading a cornerstone of a title-chasing side. They are selling a projection, a promise. A player who has never pulled on the Werkself shirt in a professional match.
“Kerim has made an incredible development. He is extremely ambitious and has developed astonishingly quickly,” Rolfes told Sport1. That acceleration is what turned a quiet academy investment into a transfer frenzy.
The Salzburg Detour That Changed Everything
Alajbegovic’s rise is not an overnight miracle. It is the product of a bold detour.
Last summer, Leverkusen let their own academy talent leave for Salzburg. The Austrians paid two million euros, while Leverkusen quietly protected themselves with an eight-million-euro buy-back clause. It was a calculated gamble: let him grow elsewhere, then bring him home when he is ready.
For the first weeks in Salzburg, it did not look easy. “At the beginning it was difficult: I was in a hotel for a month and a half, so I was very alone,” he admitted to Salzburg’s club media. A teenager, in a new country, stuck in a hotel room. Not the glamorous side of a modern football career.
Once he settled, the transformation started. On the pitch, the numbers told the story: 13 goals and four assists in 44 competitive matches. Off the pitch, his own words captured the change. “It was the best decision to come here,” he said by the end of his spell, describing how he had matured both as a player and as a person.
He did not hide his edge either. “I am someone who really hates losing. I really hate it. Sometimes I become very aggressive – and I was then also taught that I should stay calm.” That mix of fire and control, still being refined, is part of the package clubs are paying for.
The Return – and a Very Different Kerim
That “intermediate step” in Salzburg has delivered a very different player back to Leverkusen this week. No longer the academy boy. Now an almost established professional and a World Cup participant.
“Before I came to Salzburg, I was still a boy,” Alajbegovic admitted. That version of him has gone. In his place stands the youngest debutant in Bosnia’s history and a player who has already carried responsibility in high‑pressure games.
In the World Cup play-offs, he played a decisive role in Bosnia’s wins against Wales and Italy. On the biggest stage itself, he underlined his reputation with a spectacular goal against Qatar. Rolfes did not hide his admiration: “He has exceptional shooting technique, also from outside the box. That really makes him special.”
Those long‑range strikes, that clean, violent connection with the ball, have turned a quiet buy-back into a global auction.
Xabi Alonso and the Chelsea Puzzle
Chelsea’s move is no accident. Xabi Alonso, now in the Stamford Bridge dugout, knows Alajbegovic as well as anyone outside Leverkusen’s academy staff.
During Alonso’s time at the BayArena, the Bosnian teenager often appeared in the matchday squad, close enough to feel the rhythm of Bundesliga football but never actually stepping over the white line. No debut, not even a late cameo. Still, Alonso saw enough in training to keep him in mind – and, apparently, to push for him in London.
The reported 40-million-euro offer underlines that belief. Yet the path to Chelsea is anything but clear.
The London club have just signed Morgan Rogers from Aston Villa for the same attacking midfield role, for a fee of 127 million euros. That traffic jam in his preferred position has forced Alajbegovic to study Chelsea’s plans very closely. One scenario on the table: an immediate loan within the Blue Group, possibly to Racing Strasbourg.
According to media reports, that is exactly the kind of move he had previously ruled out. He does not want to be another name shuttled around a multi‑club network.
Juventus Move to the Front
That hesitation has opened the door for Juventus. In recent days, the Italians have surged to the front of the queue.
Reports in Italy and Germany describe Juve as favourites in the race, with Sky even speaking of an agreement between all parties. The structure is clear enough: a basic fee of 33 million euros, topped up by bonuses that would push the final sum to the 40 million allegedly offered by Chelsea.
One selling point stands above all others. Juventus have told Alajbegovic they see him straight in the starting XI. No loan, no waiting room, no parked asset. A central role in Turin, and that message has already been delivered to him personally.
According to Sky, only the last details remain before the deal can be made official. Whether those details fall into place in the coming days or another club attempts a late ambush, one fact is already beyond doubt.
The Bundesliga is about to break its Under-19 transfer record – for a player Leverkusen never even had to substitute off.
