Confirmed: Leverkusen loan out Kossounou and bring Mukiele back to German football

The loan-out of Ivorian center back Odilon Kossounou from Bayer 04 Leverkusen to Atalanta Bergamo has been officially confirmed. The 23-year-old moves from the defending Bundesliga champions to the only team that managed to beat them last season on a one-year-arrangement. Stephan van Nocks - the Leverkusen correspondent for Germany's Kicker Magazine - reports that Leverkusen will immediately pocket a loan fee of €5.5 million. A €25 million optional purchase option is part of the deal. 

Kossounou's replacement has also been procured immediately. As reported yesterday, the player taking Kossounou's place on the Werkself roster is none other than former RB Leipzig defender Nordi Mukiele. The 26-year-old joins Germany's red company team on loan from PSG, whom he joined from the German Red Bulls in the summer of 2022. Van Nocks and other sources confirm that Leverkusen have not obtained a purchase option as part of the Mukiele deal. 

Mukiele brings with him the experience of exactly 100 Bundesliga appearances for Leipzig. The once-capped French international was considered among German football's headline players when he departed the Bundesrepublik. The move to PSG has nevertheless not been much of a success. Mukiele featured just nine times in the league for the Parisians last season. His estimated market worth has tanked from a peak of €25 million to €10 million in the latest transfermarkt update. 

“Odilon's transfer is a good solution for everyone involved,” Leverkusen's managing director Simon Rolfes remarked on the Kossounou transaction, “We wish him a successful season at Atalanta.”

“Nordi fits perfectly into our team with his profile," Rolfes said of the second move, "he has great 30 Champions League appearances appearances and as an accomplished footballer he can play both as a right-back and as a central defender. Of course, his Bundesliga experience is also a big plus for us.”