Bayer Leverkusen's Midfield Hope Kennet Eichhorn Faces Serious Setback
The plan was simple. Kennet Eichhorn would arrive, slip straight into Bayer Leverkusen’s midfield rotation and grow into one of the faces of the club’s next era. Instead, before the season has even begun, the 17-year-old is in a hospital bed, and Leverkusen are tearing up their squad blueprint.
What began as a routine preseason setback has turned into something far more serious. In mid-July, Eichhorn lost five kilos in just five days due to a gastrointestinal infection. Doctors quickly intervened. The diagnosis that followed was a metabolic illness, serious enough that the teenager is now receiving inpatient treatment while specialists search for the underlying cause and work to rebuild his strength.
The club, and the player, are suddenly dealing with the unknown. According to Sport Bild, a lengthy absence is expected. There is no timetable, no target date circled on a calendar. Leverkusen have removed Eichhorn from their squad planning for the entire first half of the season, a brutal but necessary admission that nobody can predict when he will be ready to play elite football again.
That single decision has knock-on effects throughout the squad.
Transfer Dominoes in Midfield
Leverkusen had originally intended to trim their crowded central midfield by two players. With Eichhorn out of the picture for months, that strategy has changed. Only one midfielder is now earmarked for sale, and three names sit on the list: Equi Fernandez, Aleix Garcia and Robert Andrich.
Fernandez, 24, looks the likeliest to move. He currently has the strongest market and could bring in around 20 million euros, a significant fee that would give Leverkusen both financial breathing room and flexibility. His situation inside the club has already been turbulent. After clashing with former coach Kasper Hjulmand, his relationship with Carles Martinez is now said to be repaired, but that may not be enough to keep him if the right offer arrives.
Garcia, 29, is more open to a new challenge. He can imagine a move, the report says, but there is still a clear problem: a lack of suitable suitors. Until a club steps forward with a convincing project and a convincing bid, he remains in limbo, part of the planning but not untouchable.
Andrich, 31, stands at the other end of the spectrum. As things stand, everything points to him staying. Experience, reliability and familiarity with the system suddenly carry even greater weight when a highly touted teenager has to step away from the game.
A Rising Star Halted
The timing could hardly be crueller for Eichhorn. Last season, he broke through at Hertha BSC in the 2. Bundesliga, establishing himself as a regular despite the inevitable bumps that come with a first full campaign. He missed games through an ankle injury and served a suspension after a red card, but those setbacks felt like part of the natural learning curve for a young midfielder finding his edge.
What made him stand out was the blend: composure in possession, the courage to demand the ball, and a competitive streak that drew admiring glances from across Europe. Bayern Munich watched. So did Liverpool, Manchester City, Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. When that calibre of club circles a 17-year-old, the label “one of Europe’s biggest talents” stops sounding like hype and starts reading like a scouting consensus.
Leverkusen moved decisively. They paid nine million euros to bring him in, a clear statement that they saw Eichhorn not as a long-term project tucked away in the academy, but as a player ready to push for minutes in the senior side sooner rather than later.
Now, all of that momentum has been paused.
The transfer fee still reflects his potential. The interest from Europe’s giants still underlines his ceiling. But the central question for Leverkusen has changed. It is no longer how quickly Eichhorn can force his way into the starting XI. It is when, and in what condition, he will be able to resume his climb at all.
For a club that had built part of its midfield future around a teenager, and for a player who had just stepped onto the big stage, the coming months will test patience, planning and resilience. The breakthrough everyone expected in Leverkusen will have to wait—how long, nobody can yet say.
