While the Premier League shattered its own spending record again this summer, Bundesliga clubs took a different route home. Facing a financial gap they simply cannot close, several German sides turned to nostalgia, bringing back former players on discounted deals.
Familiar Faces Return to the Bundesliga
RB Leipzig brought back Christopher Nkunku on loan from AC Milan, three years after selling him to Chelsea. Bayer Leverkusen re-signed Moussa Diaby from Saudi club Al-Ittihad, and Niclas Fuellkrug returned to Werder Bremen on loan from relegated West Ham. Borussia Dortmund, after losing a summer signing to injury, passed on a third reunion with Jadon Sancho and instead loaned in Arsenal teenager Ethan Nwaneri.
FIFA figures showed Premier League clubs spent roughly $3.02 billion in transfer fees this window, more than three times the Bundesliga’s $904 million outlay. That gap has pushed German clubs toward loans and discounted buybacks rather than fresh, big-money signings.
Nkunku left Leipzig for Chelsea in a deal reportedly worth 60 million euros, before a move to Milan last year. He shared the Bundesliga’s top scorer title with Fuellkrug in his final season at the Red Bull Arena and helped the club win back-to-back German Cups. Leipzig could have signed him outright after banking a reported 130 million euros from Yan Diomande’s move to Real Madrid, but chose a loan instead. He set up a goal within two minutes of coming off the bench in his first game back.
Second Chances After Difficult Spells Abroad
Fuellkrug scored just three goals in 29 games during a rough stretch at West Ham before a loanless six months at Milan yielded only one more. Back at Bremen on a reported pay cut, he matched that Milan tally in his very first game. Diaby, meanwhile, returns to Leverkusen for around half of the 55 million euros the club received when Aston Villa signed him in 2023, hoping to rediscover the form that brought him 49 goals and 47 assists there for the Bundesliga outfit.
