Bayer Leverkusen have signed 16-year-old defensive midfielder Kennet Eichhorn from Hertha Berlin, adding one of Germany's most watched teenage midfielders to their Bundesliga squad build.
Bavarian Football Works reported the move from a Bayer 04 release excerpt, with the Germany U17 international joining Leverkusen on a long-term contract. The same article attributed a deal through 2031 to Sky Germany journalist Florian Plettenberg.
Leverkusen Add A Teenage Midfielder
Eichhorn arrives after already playing senior football at Hertha Berlin. The extracted Bayer 04 release excerpt said he made 19 appearances for Hertha's first team last season and scored two goals.
That experience is the main reason the signing carries more weight than a typical academy move. Eichhorn is 16, but the source described him as a No. 6 who had already handled the physical demands of the 2. Bundesliga.
The release excerpt also said he can play in central midfield and will wear No. 18 at Bayer 04.
Rolfes Points To Development Fit
Bayer 04 Managing Director Sport Simon Rolfes framed the transfer around development rather than immediate headline value, according to the release excerpt published by BFW.
Rolfes said Leverkusen had been in contact with Eichhorn and his family a year earlier and viewed Bayer 04 as the right environment for him to grow into a Bundesliga-level player. The club also pointed to talks with head coach Carles Martinez as part of the agreement.
For Leverkusen, the signing is a bet on a midfielder who has already moved beyond youth-only projection. The club are buying into the next stage of a player who has senior minutes, a youth national-team profile and a defined central-midfield position.
Eichhorn Chooses Bundesliga Path
The BFW article said Bayern Munich had exited negotiations, giving Leverkusen an opening for a player who wanted to stay in Germany.
No transfer fee was extracted, and Bayer's official site returned a 404-style shell during fast local extraction, so the clean facts here are the reported signing, Hertha origin, age, position, Germany U17 status, first-team appearances, long-term deal and reported 2031 contract endpoint.
Leverkusen now have a teenage midfielder with enough senior exposure to make his development track worth following from the start of preseason planning.