
Leverkusen youngster Kofane not focusing on Arsenal links
Christian Kofane insisted his complete focus is on Bayer Leverkusen despite reported interest from Arsenal.
The 20-year-old signed for Leverkusen last summer from Albacete and directly contributed to 13 goals (seven goals, six assists) in 44 appearances.
Only Patrik Schick (26), Alejandro Grimaldo (26) and Aleix Garcia (16) recorded more direct goal involvements for Leverkusen last season, though they all played significantly more minutes.
At 19 years and 67 days, Kofane became Leverkusen's youngest-ever goalscorer in the Champions League after netting in a 1-1 draw with PSV last October.
The striker's impressive campaign earned him reported interest from Arsenal, though Kofane denied having any direct communication with the Premier League champions.
"No, that didn’t reach me," he told Kolner Stadt-Anzeiger.
"My agent apparently spoke to one or two people. I myself didn’t have any contact with anyone."
— Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@bayer04_en) August 11, 2026
Kofane's agent also claimed the youngster is a "€100m player" earlier this year, which came as a surprise to the Leverkusen prospect.
"Wow. No, I didn’t know that," added Kofane.
"You clearly don’t know me: I don’t concern myself with social media and things like that.
"My agent can say whatever he wants, and the media can say whatever they want about it. I’m here to play football.
"At the moment I’m focused on playing football. But now that you’ve brought it up [his future], I suppose I’ll have to start thinking about it."
Kofane's current deal with Leverkusen runs until June 2029, and he has enjoyed a strong pre-season campaign after scoring twice already.
Leverkusen will face Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United in their final two friendlies before coming up against Wehen in the DFB-Pokal on August 22.
Their first Bundesliga match of the 2026-27 season comes against newly promoted Elversberg a week later.











