Bayer Leverkusen Denies Transfer Rumors for Karim Benzema

Bayer Leverkusen have moved quickly to slam the brakes on a swirl of transfer gossip linking them with Karim Benzema.

For a few hours, the story raced around social media and through the transfer rumour mill. DZfoot journalist Ilyes Kaddouri reported that Leverkusen officials had made direct contact with the 38-year-old forward, freshly released after his contract with Saudi Arabian side Al-Hilal was mutually terminated. The narrative picked up speed when eagle-eyed fans noticed the former Real Madrid star had started following Leverkusen’s official Instagram account.

That was enough to light the touchpaper. A free Benzema. A Champions League winner. A 2022 Ballon d'Or. And a club on the rise in Germany. On paper, it looked like the kind of fantasy move that can define a season.

Leverkusen, though, see it very differently.

Sporting director Simon Rolfes cut straight through the noise when approached by BILD at the BayArena. Asked about the prospect of a move for the unattached veteran, he didn’t leave room for interpretation: “Our squad is complete.” Four words, and with them the door to a Benzema reunion with the European elite was effectively shut, at least in the Bundesliga.

Inside the club, there is little appetite to tinker with an attacking unit they believe is already well balanced. Benzema is understood to have been in touch with Leverkusen players Lucas Vazquez and Moussa Diaby, but those conversations have not shifted the hierarchy’s view. They are convinced the dressing room already contains the firepower they need.

Head coach Carles Martinez can call on the experience of Patrik Schick, a proven Bundesliga scorer, while also nurturing the promise of young forward Christian Kofane. The picture up front should look even stronger once Victor Boniface returns from a serious knee injury that has kept him out of action. On top of that, talk of a sentimental homecoming to Lyon has already been dismissed, closing off another romantic subplot in Benzema’s late-career journey.

For now, Leverkusen’s focus is firmly on the pitch, not the market.

Their Europa League campaign kicks off on Wednesday night at the BayArena against Slovenian side Celje, the first step in a European run they hope will stretch deep into the spring. Four days later, RB Leipzig arrive in the Bundesliga for a heavyweight clash that will test Martinez’s side before domestic football pauses for the international break.

When the league resumes on October 10 with an away trip to Mainz on matchday five, Leverkusen expect to be sharper, more settled, and still very much themselves — with no late-career superstar up front, just a squad they believe is already built to contend.