Of all the players to be in one of the most dramatic and long running sagas of the transfer window, few would have expected it to have been Jonathan Tah. The Bayer Leverkusen defender has been at the club for an incredible nine years, despite the many, many bumps along the road, and has now assumed a leadership position at the Bundesliga champions.
Florian Plettenberg captured a quote from Leverkusen trainer Xabi Alonso that details the reintegration process: "Of course, in the first few weeks, there was a situation we didn't want, but it can happen in football. That's why I decided not to let him start... But this week, he trained well again, fully focused, his mind was here."
How long he remains in Alonso's plan will of course depend on Leverkusen's belief in their internal deadline for the deal and Bayern's willingness to push to complete a deal. But if no deal materializes in the upcoming days, this will all have been another very familiar bump in the road of the Tah and Leverkusen relationship.
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