Striker goalless in Spain
©IMAGO
Sébastien Haller (30), who was loaned out by Borussia Dortmund, is set to leave CD Leganés after less than six months. According to “Marca”, negotiations are underway to end the loan early. Haller is hardly used by the Spanish first division club anymore and his market value has fallen from 10 million to 3 million euros since the move on the last transfer day in the summer.
The Ivorian international has 525 minutes played across nine games, seven of them between mid-September and the end of October. Since then he has mostly sat on the bench. He didn’t manage a goal or an assist. Haller should have found his old strength again in Leganés after the previous season at BVB was one to forget – due to injuries and international absences, there were 19 appearances with 524 minutes, three goals and one assist. “Now it is important for Sébastien that he plays regularly again and feels the joy of celebrating a goal as often as possible. “He definitely wants to take advantage of the opportunity that is now offered to him in LaLiga – and we wholeheartedly begrudge it to him,” Dortmund’s sporting director Sebastian Kehl said at the end of August.
Shortly before the turn of the year, the reality looks different: All three sides – i.e. the two clubs and the player – would be happy about a loan cancellation, it is said. Leganés would thus save around 2.5 million euros in salary costs and would have more budget for the winter transfer phase. A second chance for more missions could open up for Haller. The attacker is now far from his career high, which he achieved at West Ham United in 2019. At BVB, his market value has been going downhill since he arrived in the summer of 2022 for a €31 million transfer from Ajax – partly because of testicular cancer, which put him out of action in his first six months.
In addition to Haller, BVB has loaned out three other professionals: Youssoufa Moukoko (20; Nice), Soumaïla Coulibaly (21; Brest) and Salih Özcan (26; Wolfsburg) – things aren’t going well for them either. Coulibaly was able to increase his market value from 6 million to 9 million euros, but has been missing for almost two months due to a pelvic injury. Moukoko and Özcan are only supplementary players and have lost 4 million and 3 million euros in market value during the loan period. What all four have in common is that they were only loaned out in the last days of the summer transfer window and therefore missed the preparation with their new clubs. Haller is under contract with BVB until 2026, as are Moukoko, Coulibaly and Özcan.
