Rolfes: Grimaldo was set to extend Leverkusen contract before Atlético move
Simon Rolfes has confirmed that Bayer Leverkusen had reached a verbal agreement with Alejandro Grimaldo to extend his contract until 2029 before Atlético Madrid "disrupted" their plans.
| Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images |
Alejandro Grimaldo was on the verge of extending his contract with Bayer Leverkusen before joining Atlético Madrid, according to the German club’s sporting managing director, Simon Rolfes.
Rolfes confirmed to Bild that Leverkusen had reached an agreement with Grimaldo over a contract extension running from 2027 until 2029 before Atlético entered the picture and convinced the player to move to Spain instead.
"It's true that we had verbally agreed with ‘Grima’ on an early extension of his contract by a further two years," Rolfes said.
"Atlético's offer unfortunately disrupted our plans," the 44-year-old added.
Atlético reportedly paid a fee of around €25 million to sign Grimaldo.
