Bayer Leverkusen reach agreement to bring Moussa Diaby back from Al-Ittihad

Bayer Leverkusen are closing in on the return of Moussa Diaby after reaching a verbal agreement with Al-Ittihad over a transfer worth just under €30 million.

The 27-year-old France international has already agreed the framework of a long-term contract with Leverkusen running until 2031, according to Sky Germany. Final details between the clubs are still being completed, with a medical and formal signature required before the move can be announced.

The breakthrough brings Leverkusen close to reuniting with a player whose first spell at the BayArena transformed him from a promising Paris Saint-Germain graduate into one of the Bundesliga’s most dangerous wide forwards.

Diaby spent four seasons with the club between 2019 and 2023, recording 49 goals and 48 assists in 173 competitive appearances before leaving for Aston Villa. His combination of explosive acceleration, direct running and production from wide areas made him one of the defining attacking players of that Leverkusen side.

Three years later, the circumstances of his potential return are markedly different.

Diaby would come back as an established senior international with experience in the Premier League and Saudi Pro League, while Leverkusen themselves are entering another period of transition. The club finished sixth in the Bundesliga last season and appointed Carles Martínez as head coach ahead of the new campaign, with Champions League qualification again among their central objectives.

Bringing back Diaby would give Martínez a proven attacking profile at a point when Leverkusen have spent much of the summer reshaping the squad.

There is also a clear financial contrast with the winger’s previous moves. Sky reports that Leverkusen sold Diaby to Aston Villa for €55m in 2023 before the Premier League club transferred him to Al-Ittihad a year later for around €60m. An agreement below €30m would therefore represent a substantially lower entry price for a player the club already knows intimately.

That familiarity reduces some of the uncertainty normally attached to a major attacking signing.

Diaby understands the Bundesliga, the club and the environment at the BayArena. Leverkusen, in turn, know precisely what his game can offer: speed in transition, the ability to attack space behind a defensive line and the capacity to create or finish attacks from either wide positions or narrower areas around the striker.

His previous numbers in Germany underline that impact. During the 2022/23 Bundesliga season alone, Diaby produced nine goals and nine assists, ending the campaign among Leverkusen’s most productive players.

The proposed return is not simply an exercise in nostalgia, however. Leverkusen are attempting to add an experienced attacker who can influence matches immediately while a younger group develops around Martínez. Diaby would arrive at 27, an age at which his physical qualities should still be capable of operating at the intensity required in Germany.

The transfer has taken time to reach this stage.

Leverkusen had been in advanced discussions over Diaby earlier in August, but no final agreement existed with either the player or Al-Ittihad at that point. Negotiations with the Saudi club proved complicated before Wednesday’s breakthrough, with Sky and kicker now both reporting that the clubs have reached an understanding over the fee.

Until the medical is completed and contracts are signed, the move remains unfinished.

But the most significant obstacle has now been removed. Leverkusen have an agreement with Al-Ittihad, Diaby has agreed terms through 2031, and the final steps are expected to follow shortly.

If those formalities proceed without complications, one of Leverkusen’s most influential attackers of the pre-title era will return to the BayArena three years after leaving it — this time as an established player expected to help drive the club back towards the top of the Bundesliga.