Christian Kofane is pushing for a Premier League move after contract talks with Bayer Leverkusen stalled, according to Sky Germany, with Arsenal and Manchester United leading the list of English clubs tracking the 20-year-old Cameroon striker.

The contract standoff

The report, carried by Sky Germany via OneFootball on 8 October, says Kofane has set his sights on England and that discussions over a new Leverkusen deal have paused. Sport Bild’s reporting, summarised by football.london, adds that talks over an extension to 2031 had been progressing before stalling, with financial considerations behind the pause. According to Bulinews, the sticking point is the signing-on bonus: Kofane was happy with the basic salary and the release clause on the table but would not put pen to paper.

Leverkusen are keen to keep him. The proposed terms would roughly quadruple his current salary, from around €1m a year to over €3m, and run until 2031. His existing contract runs to 2029, so the Bundesliga club are under no immediate pressure to sell. Interest, though, is building. In the summer a fee of €60-70m was floated, with Arsenal, Newcastle, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Everton all linked. Sport Bild now reports that Arsenal and United have both been in contact with the player’s camp, and his agent Eric Depolo described Arsenal as “certainly keen” when speaking to Daily Arsenal in April.

What kind of striker is Kofane?

Kofane joined Leverkusen from Spanish second-tier side Albacete for €5.25m in the summer of 2025 and has risen quickly. Across 50 appearances for the club he has scored 10 goals and registered nine assists, per football.london’s 8 October round-up, and he has seven caps for Cameroon, scoring twice at the Africa Cup of Nations. This season he has three goals in just 178 minutes of football, per the Hard Tackle’s breakdown of the Sport Bild report, despite not being a first-choice starter.

He is 6ft 2in, mobile and direct, and former French striker Samuel Lobe has compared his running style to Samuel Eto’o. The assist numbers suggest there is more to his game than finishing: he links play and holds the ball up well for a 20-year-old. One note of caution is that he is currently sidelined with an injury picked up on international duty with Cameroon, so any January move would need a clean bill of health first.

The Arsenal fit

Arsenal’s need is straightforward. Viktor Gyokeres is the first-choice No. 9 in Mikel Arteta’s 4-3-3, but Kai Havertz is out with a muscle injury and Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli and Leandro Trossard all left in the summer. The club spent around £170m on five players in the last window without adding a centre-forward, which leaves Arteta light if Gyokeres needs a rest or picks up a knock.

Kofane fits the profile Arteta asks of his forwards: he presses from the front, runs the channels and attacks the box. He would arrive as a rotational option with the physical tools to develop into more, and at 20 he would not block the pathway of the club’s other young attackers. Arsenal’s recruitment team have reportedly kept in touch with his camp for some time, and he is not the only striker on their shortlist, with Freiburg’s Igor Matanovic also being tracked. Our view: an 8.6/10 fit for the squad, though the fee and competition are real obstacles.

The Manchester United fit

United’s case is arguably stronger. Michael Carrick’s 4-2-3-1 asks a lot of its lone striker in terms of running and pressing, and the options behind the first choice are thin: Benjamin Sesko has had injury problems this season and there are doubts about Joshua Zirkzee’s long-term future, with a return to Italy possible. Director of football Jason Wilcox and the recruitment team have favoured younger players with resale value, and a 20-year-old Cameroon international on an upward curve matches that brief.

Kofane’s mobility suits a side that wants to press high and break quickly, and his link-up play would suit Bruno Fernandes arriving late in the box. The rebuild is gathering pace elsewhere in the squad, with Carlos Baleba’s first minutes in a United shirt showing where the midfield is heading, so a young striker to grow with that core makes sense. Our view: an 8.2/10 fit, with the same caveats on price and competition from Newcastle, Villa and Everton.

What happens next

Leverkusen hold most of the cards. A contract to 2029, a willing seller’s market and a player who is in no rush publicly means Arsenal and United would have to pay close to the €60-70m figure floated in the summer, well short of the €100m his agent has talked up. If Kofane signs the 2031 extension, the Premier League interest goes quiet; if the standoff drags into January, expect both English clubs to test Leverkusen’s resolve. For now, the player who arrived from Albacete for €5.25m fifteen months ago is one of Europe’s most watched young forwards, and the next move is his.