Grimaldo moves from Bayer Leverkusen to Atlético Madrid – fee around 25 million euros

Fee and historical comparison

Sporting director Simon Rolfes paid tribute to the left-back's performances in a club press release: „Sein Spielstil war prägend für unsere Werkself, seine Freistöße waren ikonisch – dafür gilt ihm unser Dank.“ Rolfes added: „Wir haben gemeinsam mit Alejandro Grimaldo die atemberaubendste Zeit von Bayer 04 erlebt und er war dabei unstrittig ein wichtiger Bestandteil unseres gemeinsamen Erfolges.“

Stints at Leverkusen

In his three seasons at Leverkusen, Grimaldo made 145 competitive appearances, scoring 30 goals and providing 45 assists. In the past season he scored 14 goals and set up 12 more – the best figures of any Leverkusen player in the league. No defender in Europe's top leagues was directly involved in more goals than the Valencia native.

Under then head coach Xabi Alonso, Grimaldo established himself as a regular from the outset and in his first season won the double of the league title and the DFB-Pokal. The Werkself went unbeaten in the 2023/24 Bundesliga season and also reached the Europa League final. Grimaldo told the club: „Die ungeschlagene Meisterschaft 2024, den Pokalsieg im selben Jahr und zusätzlich das Erreichen des Europa-League-Finals werde ich niemals vergessen.“ He added: „Was wir hier in Leverkusen geschafft haben, hat Fußballfans in ganz Europa berührt.“

Career path and national team

With the move to Atlético Madrid, Grimaldo is fulfilling a personal dream. „Jetzt aber erfülle ich mir meinen Lebenstraum, mit einem absoluten Spitzenteam erstmals auch in meiner Heimat um Pokale und Titel zu spielen“, said the left-footer, who came through FC Barcelona's youth academy La Masia but never played for the Catalan club's first team. He made 92 appearances for Barcelona's reserve team before moving in 2016 to Portugal to join Benfica Lisbon. In the Primeira Liga he subsequently established himself as one of the best left-backs in the country.

For the Spanish national team, Grimaldo has so far played 14 international matches since his debut in November 2023. With the Selección he won the 2024 European Championship in Germany. The full-back is currently taking part with Spain in the World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico, which is why the transfer will only officially go through after the tournament. At Atlético Madrid, Grimaldo will compete with Matteo Ruggeri for the left-back spot.

Search for a successor at Bayer 04

According to consistent media reports, Bayer Leverkusen has already earmarked several candidates as successors for the left-back position. Those mentioned are the Frenchman Arsène Kouassi from FC Lorient, Portuguese international Raphaël Guerreiro from FC Bayern Munich, and Pep Chavarría from Rayo Vallecano. Under new head coach Carles Martinez Novell, the Werkself defence is to be reshaped for the coming season.

Historically, this marks the tenth time Bayer 04 has received a transfer fee of at least 25 million euros – a figure that underlines the sporting and economic significance of the transfer. At the same time, with Grimaldo the club is losing a defining player whose free kicks and attacking thrust were celebrated by the fans in Leverkusen over three years. Atlético Madrid are thus securing an internationally experienced defender who, despite his age, has yet to gain any La Liga experience in Spain.