Bayer Leverkusen CEO confident Wirtz and Alonso will stay beyond summer

At the moment, Fernando Carro still expects both Florian Wirtz and Xabi Alonso to stay.

Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro is confident that both Florian Wirtz and Xabi Alonso will remain with the club beyond the summer transfer window.

Wirtz has been widely linked with a move to Bayern Munich, but in an interview with Sky Germany on Saturday, Carro made it clear that no one from the Bavarian club has reached out to Leverkusen regarding the 21-year-old.

There is a “very high probability” that he will stay at Bayer 04 beyond this season, Carro said. 

“He has a contract,” he added, referring to Wirtz’s deal, which runs until 2027.

When asked about what it would take to persuade the club to sell Wirtz, Carro stressed there is no financial “pain threshold”. 

“It could also be that a club comes along that Flo doesn’t want to go to,” he noted.

Carro also expects head coach Xabi Alonso, who has been touted as a possible replacement for Carlo Ancelotti at Real Madrid, to stay at Leverkusen. 

“He still has a contract with us, and he feels comfortable here. For now, we are planning on him staying, and we’re also preparing for next season with him when it comes to the training, the games, and the squad,” said Carro.

However, he acknowledged that Real Madrid’s 3-0 defeat to Arsenal in the Champions League was unsettling, as it fueled further speculation about Alonso’s future.

“I would have preferred if Madrid had won by a large margin and the coaching position had been settled. It’s normal in football that when a team like Real Madrid lose 3-0 to Arsenal in the quarter-finals, the rumor mill starts. I would have preferred to avoid that,” said the 60-year-old.