“We’re in talks,” Rolfes told German magazine Kicker, a terse line that puts official status on a negotiation Leverkusen hope to wrap up before the January window opens.
Maza has given his employers every reason to move quickly. Three Bundesliga goals and three assists in nine appearances, a Europa League strike and two in the DFB-Pokal have confirmed the Algerian as the creative pivot the club lost when Florian Wirtz left, with Patrik Schick the main beneficiary of his passes into the box.
He signed from Hertha Berlin in May 2025 for a reported €12m on a contract that runs until 30 June 2030.
A longer deal, bigger pay, no release clause
The new proposal is designed to protect Leverkusen’s negotiating position without weakening it. According to Goal, the club has tabled a written offer that would extend his deal by a year to 2031, lift his salary from around €2.5m to €4m a year, and add a €4m signing bonus.
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Crucially, no release clause is included. For a sporting department that has made player sales into an art form, keeping that leverage intact is the entire point.
The queue of suitors
Leverkusen know what is coming. Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Barcelona have all been tracking Maza, whose profile as a number ten behind a focal striker fits almost every elite build in Europe.
Paris Saint-Germain were the most publicly linked of them, and the most dramatic in walking away. On 9 November PSG football advisor Luis Campos ended discussions, with Sky Sport Switzerland reporter Sacha Tavolieri writing that Campos was unhappy with an approach channelled through Maza’s father and the Stellar agency. PSG, Tavolieri added, maintain they never launched a concrete recruitment attempt.
Leverkusen’s internal target is to have the new contract signed before Christmas. Even if the talks slip into 2027, Maza will still have more than three years left on his existing deal, Africa Soccer reports, keeping any bidder facing a Leverkusen valuation rather than a fixed exit price.
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Sources: – [Bayer Leverkusen – Simon Rolfes confirms contract talks with Ibrahim Maza (GFN)](https://www.getfootballnewsgermany.com/2026/bayer-leverkusen-simon-rolfes-confirms-contract-talks-with-ibrahim-maza/) – [Pay rise and hefty signing bonus – Maza close to extension (Goal)](https://www.goal.com/en/news/pay-rise-and-hefty-signing-bonus-ibrahim-maza-reportedly-close-to-extending-his-contract-at-bayer-leverkusen/blt1e33cfc41afde0c6) – [PSG end Ibrahim Maza pursuit (Yahoo)](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/psg-end-ibrahim-maza-pursuit-105757079.html) – [Why Bayer Leverkusen’s Ibrahim Maza (Yahoo)](https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/why-bayer-leverkusens-ibrahim-maza-162700715.html) – [Leverkusen agree deal to sign Maza (beIN Sports, 1 May 2025)](https://www.beinsports.com/en-us/soccer/bundesliga/articles/leverkusen-agree-deal-to-sign-promising-hertha-forward-maza-2025-05-01)
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