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Done dealUpdated 19:55 UK · 1 Sept

Moussa Diaby to Bayer Leverkusen
Winger completes Bundesliga return

Al IttihadAl IttihadBayer LeverkusenBayer LeverkusenFee€30mReliability100%
The story so far
  1. 1 Sept
    Transfer confirmed
    Bayer Leverkusen and Al-Ittihad both announced that Moussa Diaby had completed his move, with the winger signing a five-year contract to 2031.
  2. 26 Aug
    Verbal agreement reached
    Leverkusen and Al-Ittihad agreed a fee of around €30m for Diaby, with his medical still to be arranged.

The move in full

Moussa Diaby has completed a return to Bayer Leverkusen from Saudi club Al-Ittihad, three years after leaving the Bundesliga side for Aston Villa.

Bayer Leverkusen have completed the signing of Moussa Diaby from Saudi Arabian club Al-Ittihad, confirming the deal on 1 September 2026. The Bundesliga club have paid a reported fee of around €30m for the France international winger, who has signed a five-year contract running to 2031. Diaby returns to the BayArena three years after leaving for Aston Villa, and will once again wear the number 19 shirt he wore during his first spell at the club.

The move had been in the works for more than a week before it was made official. Leverkusen and Al-Ittihad reached a verbal agreement in principle on 26 August, with the fee already understood to be around €30m and Diaby's medical still to be arranged. The winger spent time in Leverkusen while the paperwork was finalised, and the deal was confirmed as done on transfer deadline day.

Leverkusen know exactly what they are getting back. Diaby spent four years at the club between 2019 and 2023, scoring 49 goals and setting up 47 more in 172 appearances, with his best campaign — 13 goals and 12 assists in 2021-22 — helping establish him as one of the Bundesliga's most dangerous wide players. "We've brought a great forward back to the Bundesliga in Moussa," said managing director Simon Rolfes. "He'll give our attacking game additional quality and more possibilities." The signing also answers an immediate need: Leverkusen lost their opening league game of the season 3-2 to newly promoted SV Elversberg, and new head coach Carles Martínez Novell, who replaced Kasper Hjulmand this summer, wanted proven quality out wide.

Al-Ittihad lose a player who helped deliver the Saudi Pro League title and the King's Cup in the 2024-25 season, a hugely successful first year in Jeddah. Diaby had joined from Aston Villa in the summer of 2024 for a fee in the region of €60m and was reportedly earning close to €6m a year. The Saudi club's own statement thanked him for the "legacy" he left behind. No specific reason was given for letting him leave, but a dip in the team's form last season and continued interest from clubs in Europe are understood to have been factors in Al-Ittihad's decision to sell.

Diaby's output in Saudi Arabia was solid rather than spectacular by the standards he set in Germany. He made 31 appearances in the 2025-26 Saudi Pro League season, scoring four goals and adding seven assists — numbers that show a player still heavily involved in the final third, if not quite at the level of his best Bundesliga form. At 27, he arrives back in Germany with two winners' medals from his time in Saudi Arabia.

Diaby made clear he had never lost touch with Leverkusen. "I came to Germany as a very young, inexperienced player. Leverkusen put a lot of trust in me and supported me. I haven't forgotten that and always remained in touch with Simon. When the enquiry came in and a move was possible, I didn't hesitate a second," he said. Leverkusen are aiming to return to the top four of the Bundesliga this season, and a winger with Diaby's pace and end product gives Martínez Novell another attacking option as he settles into the job.

What it does to the model

Bawler's ratings are built from what happens on the pitch — goals, chances created, chances conceded and who actually plays — so Diaby's arrival will move Leverkusen's attacking numbers once he starts appearing in the starting eleven, and Al-Ittihad's numbers will shift the other way as their season continues without him. Neither adjustment happens overnight; Bawler updates its figures as matches are actually played, not on the back of transfer news alone.

How this is scored100%
  • Announced by the clubs100

A sourcing score, not a chance of completion: it grades how solid the reporting behind the move is. The stage and the evidence come from the sources listed below; the arithmetic is fixed in code, the same for every deal.

Sources

Related: Bayer Leverkusen team page · All transfersBayer Leverkusen — every match prediction

Where this move lands

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