Loïc Badé

Loïc Badé's route to Bayer Leverkusen ran through three French academies before he ever kicked a ball for a senior side. Born in Sèvres, he passed through Antony Sports, Boulogne-Billancourt and Paris FC as a boy before Le Havre took him on, developing him through their reserve side until he made his senior debut there in 2020.

A single season at Le Havre was enough to earn him a move to RC Lens, where he made 31 appearances. Stade Rennais signed him next, though his time in Brittany was interrupted by a loan to Nottingham Forest in which he found no game time at all. A second loan, to Sevilla in 2023, saw 19 appearances and a goal persuade the Spanish club to make the move permanent that same year. Across two seasons in Seville he made 60 appearances and scored once.

Leverkusen paid a fee reported between €25 million and €30 million to sign him in the summer of 2025, a substantial outlay for a defender. He has also broken into the French national team, winning his first cap in a 2–0 win over Germany in the third-place play-off at the 2025 UEFA Nations League Finals.

Badé also holds Ivorian citizenship alongside his French nationality. At 191cm and right-footed, his move to the Bundesliga represents the biggest test yet of the progress he made through Lens, Rennes and Sevilla.