Bayer 04 Leverkusen centre-back Jonathan Tah has put pen to paper on a new long-term deal with the club amidst interest from teams in Germany, Spain and England. The Bundesliga club has confirmed that the German defender has signed a new deal which will extend his stay at the BayArena until the summer of 2023.
The Germany international initially penned a five-year deal at Leverkusen when he made a move from Bundesliga rivals Hamburg in the summer of 2015. Since then, he has become a regular feature in Heiko Herrlich’s starting eleven, notching up with 69 appearances in the top tier of German football.
The club released a short statement on their official Twitter account which stated: “FanTAHstic News! @jonatah has extended his contract with #Bayer04 until 2023!”
ICYMI: @jonatah has extended his #Bayer04 contract through June 2023!
That's something to smile about! pic.twitter.com/d0IwHnzehu
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) February 25, 2018
Tah is considered as one of the most talented young defenders in European football and the 22-year-old centre-back has previously been linked with some top European clubs which includes Barcelona, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool. His solid displays at Leverkusen earned him his first Germany call-up in March 2016, and he was part of the Germany squad which went to the European Championship in the same year to replace the then-injured Antonio Rudiger. He is currently out of action for the Bundesliga club due to illness but is expected to be back soon to help his club finish as high up the league table as possible.
The Merseyside outfit are currently sitting in 3rd place in the Premier League standings after securing a comfortable 4-1 victory at home to West Ham United on Sunday. The Reds find themselves just above Tottenham Hotspur, who are in fourth place with only a narrow two-point gap between the two teams at the moment. However, Jurgen Klopp’s side are a massive 15 points behind league leaders Manchester City going into the final stretch of the season which will be a cause for concern.
The Anfield-based club already have the likes of Virgil Van Dijk, Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren and Ragnar Klavan vying for a place in Jurgen Klopp’s backline but with the exception of Van Dijk, who arrived at the club during the January transfer window, all of the other centre-backs has failed to impress this season which has seen them get dropped time and time again from the Reds first-team. The potential addition of Tah would have undoubtedly bolstered Klopp’s defensive options but it seems like they will now have to miss out on him and look somewhere else in search of a quality defender.
Only time will tell what lies ahead in the future of Tah and whether Liverpool can find a worthy alternative in their quest to close the gap between themselves and the Manchester clubs in the coming years.
