Why Bayer won't pay €25 million for Kossounou

Atalanta Bergamo signed Odilon Kossounlou permanently, but did not pay the €25 million contractually stipulated in the purchase option. IMAGO/Gribaudi/ImagePhoto

It's a fact that Odilon Kossounou joined Atalanta Bergamo permanently last week after his one-year loan from Leverkusen. This was to be expected. The clubs had included a purchase option in the loan agreement in the summer of 2024, allowing the Ivorian defender to join the Italian Champions League side permanently one year later for an additional €25 million.

And so, Bayer announced on its club website on Friday: "Bergamo exercises purchase option: Kossounou moves permanently from Bayer to Atalanta." However, this isn't entirely true. Various Italian sources, including transfer expert Fabrizio Romano, wrote that Bergamo, which had paid a loan fee of five million euros, would only have to pay a transfer fee of 20 million euros.

This appeared to be misinformation in the Bundesliga club's official statement. However, according to information from kicker in Italy, Atalanta is actually only paying €20 million instead of the contractually agreed €25 million. The transfer fee has therefore been renegotiated – a possibility that kicker had already reported on in early May .

This was actually considered impossible, as there was another concrete suitor for Kossounou, AS Roma, especially since Gian Piero Gasperini, Atalanta's coach until the end of the season, had been hired by the Roma as their new coach. Kossounou had performed extremely well under Gasperini in Bergamo. So, what leverage could Atalanta have used to lower the transfer fee?

The catch from Leverkusen's perspective: Kossounou didn't want to move to Rome, but only to Bergamo. There, the 2024 Africa Cup of Nations winner not only has a lucrative contract, but also the opportunity to play in the Champions League next season – while Roma only compete in the Europa League.

However, since Kossounou would have only had one more year under contract with Bayer 04 - meaning he could have signed with another club in January 2026 and left Leverkusen on a free transfer in the summer of 2026 - the Bundesliga club had to make a concession on the transfer fee.

However, how big this will be in the end is another question: Atalanta and Bayer are said to have agreed on bonus payments, so that the gap could be closed to a large extent.

Leverkusen's managing director Simon Rolfes admits that renegotiations were held, but speaks of a more favorable solution for Bayer 04. "In the end, we'll get the same amount as agreed last year," the manager said.