Sevilla have made their first major sale of the summer, with French defender Loic Bade leaving the club after 2.5 years in Andalusia. Bade will join Bundesliga champions from 2024 Bayer Leverkusen.
Bade has been courted by a number of clubs almost since his arrival in Spain. After a troubled time at Nottingham Forest, Bade joined Sevilla initially on loan from Rennes, before they made that move permanent six month later. Over the last two years, the likes of AS Roma, Stuttgart and Aston Villa have all pursued Bade, but on a long-term contract until 2030, and content in Sevilla, turned all of them down.
Bade could enter top 10 of most expensive sales in Sevilla history
According to Marca, the deal has been closed for €29m, with a potential €4m in bonuses available too. Los Nervionenses will make at least a €17m profit, and it could end up being worth almost three times what they spent to sign Bade in the best-case scenario. The 25-year-old should free up Sevilla to make some moves of their own, having only been able to sign Gabriel Suazo, Odysseas Vlachodimos and Alfon Gonzalez on free transfers and in the Greek’s case, a loan deal. None of them have been registered yet.
A major hole in Sevilla’s defence
Manager Matias Almeyda will no doubt be wondering if the money might be put towards a new defender in part to fill the void left by Bade. Often partnered by one of Sergio Ramos or Nemanja Gudelj in recent seasons, central defence has been one of the few areas that has been able to perform in recent seasons.
In total he played 93 times for Sevilla, earning an international debut with France off the back of it. Currently Almeyda has Kike Salas, Marcao and Tanguy Nianzou as senior options, although the Frenchman is out of action for the next month at least. Youngster Andres Castrin partnered Salas this past weekend. Right-back Jose Angel Carmona could also depart this week.
