Six million in, 37.5 million out
Guela Doue is heading to the Bundesliga. Bayer Leverkusen and Strasbourg have agreed a fee for the right-back, according to Fabrizio Romano, and the deal is worth 37.5 million euros with bonuses included.
The player has already said yes. Everything should be signed off within hours, before the window slams shut.
This one has been rumbling since the end of last season. Several clubs sounded out Racing, Inter Milan among them, and Germany has come away with the prize.
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Racing have turned this window into a business
Strasbourg paid 6 million euros to prise him away from Rennes two summers ago. They are selling him for more than six times that.
It goes down as the third biggest sale in the club’s history, behind Diego Moreira’s 50 million move to AC Milan and Valentin Barco’s 40 million switch to Chelsea. Three enormous exits, all inside a few months.
Add it up and Racing have now cleared 200 million euros in player sales this summer alone. Very few clubs anywhere in Europe have shifted that kind of money in one window.
Leverkusen wanted a full-back who lives high up the pitch
The 23-year-old Ivory Coast international arrives off a full season in Alsace. He runs forward without stopping, gives the attack an extra body and still gets back to do the ugly work. His reading of the game marks him out from the standard overlapping right-back.
Desire Doue’s brother can also play further up the flank. That flexibility mattered a lot to Leverkusen, who like their defenders pushed right up against the touchline.
Bayer need him quickly. Their Bundesliga start has been poor and the season needs a jolt, so Doue walks in with the pressure already on.
Strasbourg have the opposite problem. Right-back is now a hole in the side and the clock is running down.
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