Official | Manchester City’s Farid Alfa-Ruprecht moves to Bayer Leverkusen with high re-sale clause

Manchester City prospect Farid Alfa-Ruprecht’s long-negotiated move to the Bundesliga is finally complete. The Hamburg-native moves to his native country via a switch to Bayer Leverkusen.The 19-year-old is the fifth summer signing under 20 years-of-age. Ibrahim Maza (19, Hertha BSC), Abdoulaye Faye (20, BK Häcken), Christian Kofane (18, Albacete), and Axel Tape (17, PSG) all look to serve as future building blocks for Germany’s red company team. 

The notion as to whether Alfa-Ruprecht – as previously reported – will immediately receive a chance with the Leverkusen first team isn’t entirely clear yet. Club sporting director Simon Rolfes merely labeled the teenage talent a “highly interesting candidate” in his released statements. One assumes that Alfa-Ruprecht will at least get a look during head coach Erik ten Hag’s training camp. 

Finalization of the Alfa-Ruprecht deal took much longer than anticipated. According to Kicker, the reason for this relates to the fact that the German club negotiated the base-transfer-fee down from €5m to €1m. This doesn’t mean that larger sum won’t eventually flow into City’s coffers.

There are plenty of performances bonuses packed into the deal to make up for the reduction. Additionally, City have secured their 40 percent re-sale clause. Generally speaking, such a take is about double what one sees in such footballing transactions.

“Farid Alfa-Ruprecht has caused quite a stir as a winger in the English U-21 league,” Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes said. “A strong goal-scoring record, tremendous pace and great footballing talent make him a highly interesting candidate for our licensed team.”

“Leverkusen is a top club with enormous appeal,” said Alfa-Ruprecht. “I will repay the trust placed in me, doing everything I can to earn the right to don the Bayer tricot.”

GGFN | Peter Weis