Liverpool gifted glorious chance to sign Leverkusen star on a free as Bayern Munich hint is dropped

Liverpool are among the clubs strongly considering an approach to sign Jonathan Tah next summer after the Barcelona target confirmed his plans to leave Bayer Leverkusen as a free agent in 2025 – but the pair will both have to vie with Bayern Munich for his signature after a big admission.

Tah is regarded as one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga and was phenomenal last season under Xabi Alonso as the club claimed the first ever Bundesliga title in their 120-year existence. Playing as part of a three-man backline, Tah formed an elite partnership alongside Edmund Tapsoba and one of Odilon Kossounou, Josip Stanisic or Piero Hincapie as Die Schwarzroten’s backline was breached just 24 times in 34 games.

Since that title success, both Kossounou and Stanisic have both moved on, heading to Atalanta and Bayern Munich, respectively.

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And while there was also summer interest in signing both Tah and Tapsoba, neither player ended up leaving, and will once again play a leading role in trying to help Alonso’s side retain their crown.

Interest in 28-year-old Germany defender Tah has not been short in coming. Both Barcelona and Bayern Munich made approaches to his agent over a possible summer move, though both sides were dissuaded from making an official bid after learning Leverkusen’s demands.

Now, however, the centre-half has confirmed his plans to move on from the BayArena in 2025, with his contract due to expire next summer and with the player eager to take on another major career challenge while he can.

As a result, and unless Leverkusen can agree a deal to sell the 29-times capped star in the winter window, he will likely leave the reigning Bundesliga champions as a free agent next summer.

Tah confirms wish to leave Leverkusen as Liverpool lurk

Confirming his plans to leave while on international duty, Tah told SZ: “No, my decision is as clear as before. I will not renew my contract for professional reasons.

“I still have a contract until 2025 and until then I will give everything for Leverkusen. A football career is short and that is why I have always had the idea of ​​making the most of it. I simply want to exploit the potential that exists in my career. And in the summer I had the feeling that now is the time to look at something new, right now, after such a successful season.

“I have been at Leverkusen for nine years, I have experienced all the ups and downs here and the highlight was the fantastic last season in which we won almost everything. It couldn’t have been better. And so I thought: if I renew my contract at Leverkusen now, at 28, that means I will play here until I am 30 or 40 years old.”

As a result of Tah’s exit confirmation, Liverpool have been strongly linked with a move for the defender as Arne Slot looks to bring in a long-term replacement for Joel Matip and with Virgil van Dijk now 33 and in the final 10 months of his contract at Anfield himself.

Barcelona are also expected to come back in for Tah, buoyed by the prospect of landing one of their major summer 2024 targets on a free transfer.

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However, the strongest threat is potentially set to come from Bayern Munich, whom Tah has already been the subject of a strong approach from this summer.

Asked if he could be playing for Vincent Kompany’s side next season, Tah refused to rule out the prospect.

“That’s a good question. We’ll see. I’m not thinking about it yet. I have a season ahead of me with Bayer Leverkusen.

“There were other offers [this summer], not just from Bayern.

“I like playing at Leverkusen, but I would have liked everything to be as rational as possible and not have had so many emotions involved.”