VfB still wasn’t satisfied with their offensive lineup: Just over a week before the transfer window closed, El Bilal Touré arrived at the Neckar from Europa League winner Atalanta Bergamo on Friday. Let us introduce you to our new loan player and try to figure out what role he can play in the already well-stocked offensive lineup of VfB.
This transfer window still feels like a fever dream. Not only did the club with the Red Stripe spend unheard-of sums on its new and partially old strike duo, but it had also already paid mid-single-digit million transfer fees before. No, as was recently revealed, Alexander Wehrle and Fabian Wohlgemuth apparently finally discovered the Gomez millions in the club’s office and are willing to invest them in two more players: a right-footed central defender and—a striker. While various names and rumors are still circulating for the defense, similar to the forward line, they have now settled on a player for the attack: El Bilal Touré is coming on loan from Atalanta Bergamo, where he presented the UEFA Cup at the end of last season. This makes him one of the few players in the squad who has already won a game against Bayer Leverkusen. Jokes aside, why is a player who arrived in Bergamo as a record signing last summer moving to the German runner-up this summer, and what can we expect from him? We asked three experts from his former clubs. Valentin from the podcast Reims Media Football talked about his time in Champagne. Also, Juan Antonio Manzano, sports director at Onda Cero Almería, who has been following UD Almería for over 30 years. Finally, Andrea Sigorini, one of the operators of the blog atalantini.com, which has been around for over 20 years and is one of the oldest in the Atalanta universe.
El Bilal Touré was born in Adjamé, Ivory Coast, part of the capital Abidjan—on October 3, 2001—but holds Malian citizenship and also plays for the national team of Mali. Until 2015, he played for the capital club Ivoire Académie FC before moving to the homeland of his parents, Afrique Football Élite in Bamako. From there, Stade de Reims signed him at the beginning of 2020. The club from northeastern France, which dominated French football in the 1950s and reached the European Cup final twice—losing both times to Real Madrid—was preparing to return to European competition for the first time since 1962. He scored two goals in two games for the second team in the fourth-tier Championnat, which, according to Valentin, is exclusively for young players, but he quickly began training with the first team as well. By February, he had already been promoted to Ligue 1. Valentin noted that he was considered a great talent, which is evident because young players usually spend at least six months in the reserves. However, Touré scored directly from a penalty in his first professional game for Reims against Angers and added two more goals—each the only goal of the game—before the season was prematurely ended in March. He started six of seven games in the starting lineup. In the 1–0 victory against Stade Rennais, he shared the pitch for the last half hour with a certain Anastasios Donis. So, Touré had a certain impact on qualifying for the European competition. In the following season, Reims slipped back to 14th place, with Touré making 33 appearances and scoring four goals in the league. According to Valentin, more was certainly expected of him, but he was also given time to develop as a young player. Additionally, coach David Guion often played him on the left wing, which did not suit him well. In the Europa League qualification, the team was knocked out in the third round by Fehérvár—a disappointing return to Europe, especially since the games were played in empty stadiums, as Valentin notes. During this season, Touré also made his debut in a friendly match for the Malian national team against Ghana. The 2021/2022 season was less successful for him: although Reims improved to 12th place, he only scored two goals and provided four assists, missing nine games in the spring due to a thigh injury. For Valentin, this, along with multiple appearances in unfamiliar positions, was one of the main reasons for his relatively weak season. Unfortunately, this would not be his last injury-related absence. In the Africa Cup of Nations, he also missed two games due to a red card suspension.
High Expectations in Almería and Bergamo
In the 2022/2023 season, he moved to Spain to join newly promoted UD Almería, which reportedly paid around eight million euros for him—a sum that did not surprise Valentin, considering his 14 scorer points in Ligue 1. However, Reims did not consider him irreplaceable, as Valentin noted that in his final year there, he forced a transfer by boycotting training sessions. In Almería, he was supposed to replace Sadiq Umar, who had helped Almería gain promotion to the first division and then moved to Real Sociedad San Sebastián, as Juan Antonio revealed. Expectations for him were accordingly high, but he only joined the team on the last day of the transfer window and had to find his footing—especially since he was only 20 years old at the time. His performances were initially inconsistent: he scored in three consecutive games and then went five weeks without a goal. Before a muscle injury once again sidelined him for part of the season, he made headlines with the only goal in a victory against FC Barcelona. Overall, Touré scored seven goals in 21 games, but Juan Antonio believed he could have scored more than ten goals without the injury. He lost the momentum he had gained after the goal against Barca due to the injury. Nonetheless, Juan Antonio credits him with contributing to Almería’s survival in the league, as his goals secured crucial points. After just one season in Spain, El Bilal Touré moved on to Italy, where Atalanta Bergamo made him their record signing with a transfer fee of nearly 30 million euros. Juan Antonio explained that he was not surprised by the high transfer fee for two reasons: first, Touré had proven his potential in a strong league like Spain despite his injury. Second, Almería would not have sold him for less. The club demands high fees for its top performers, as evidenced by the departures of Darwin Núñez to Benfica for around 35 million euros and Sadiq to San Sebastián for 20 million euros. Almería had signed both players, like Touré, for around 10 million euros each, thus making a significant profit from their sales.
In Lombardy, Touré also faced high expectations. This is partly because Atalanta, like VfB this summer, had never spent so much money on a player before. Additionally, there was the similarly expensive signing of Gianluca Scamacca from West Ham. As with us, there was skepticism about the high transfer spending, but the management in Bergamo has built a lot of trust with the fans in recent years, Andrea explained. While Scamacca contributed significantly to Bergamo’s success with 18 scorer points, including 12 goals in Serie A and six goals in European competition, Touré only managed to play 17 games and score two goals. This was due to a tendon tear in his thigh, which he suffered in a pre-season match against Juventus Turin and which kept him out for the entire first half of the season. Interestingly, it was in the same spot as a previous injury in Reims. On February 11 of this year, Touré made his first competitive appearance for Atalanta and immediately scored a goal in a 4–1 victory in Genoa. Andrea explained that players generally need a longer adjustment period to the training and playing style of coach Gian Piero Gasperini, and the long injury had certainly extended this phase for Touré, preventing him from having the hoped-for impact on the season. However, he did score in the second leg of the UEFA Cup semi-final against Olympique Marseille, sealing a 3–0 victory.
Versatile Striker with Injury Concerns
Now, with VfB, he is joining his fourth club in four countries within four years. According to Andrea, Atalanta had planned to use Touré this year, but the player did not see enough playing time for himself. The loan with a purchase option seems like a good solution for all parties involved: VfB doesn’t have to pay much for him, Atalanta accommodates the player’s wishes, and they still retain control over their record signing. If the loan doesn’t go as expected, the situation can be reassessed in the summer of 2025. But what role can Touré play at VfB? Tactically, he can operate as a central striker or as a second striker. In Spain and France, he was the classic number nine in a 4–2‑3–1 or a 4–3‑3, but in Italy and France, he also played as a second striker or on the left side. However, he can be deployed anywhere in the attack, according to Andrea. Valentin explained that he could both make runs into space and act as a target man with his back to goal.
All the experts highlighted his speed and physical strength as strengths, as well as his dribbling, work rate, and heading ability. Andrea mentioned his inconsistency as a weakness, which was reflected in longer goal droughts. Another difficult-to-correct “weakness” is, of course, his injury susceptibility. Juan Antonio fears that the numerous injuries in recent years may have affected the player’s confidence in his body. However, if Touré remains mentally strong and puts the injuries behind him, Juan Antonio believes he has a lot of potential. Andrea also noted that the injury issue should not be underestimated, especially as he was sidelined for extended periods each time. However, if he stays fit and earns the trust of the team and coach, the experts believe he could make a name for himself in the Bundesliga, which is less defensively oriented compared to Serie A. Juan Antonio commented: “He needs the ball and space to create chances.”
It will be interesting to see how often and how much space opens up for Touré. Unlike the loan of Deniz Undav, VfB seems to be less dependent on a loan player this time. Regarding squad depth, it certainly makes sense to have another central striker for the second lineup alongside Woltemade. However, whether that will be enough for him, given that Demirović and Undav are likely to be the regular starters due to the transfer fees, remains to be seen. While the loan costs are manageable and could be reduced in final negotiations, they should not be completely disregarded. Nevertheless, having a loan player as the third or fourth striker is a relatively low-risk move, and Touré will undoubtedly be eager to prove himself in the Bundesliga to secure a starting spot in Serie A. Let’s hope he stays injury-free and passes on some of his knowledge about how to beat Bayer Leverkusen to his teammates, and that he can contribute directly when needed, just as he did at his previous stops. About a week before the end of the transfer period, Fabian Wohlgemuth has filled the last spot in the attack with him—let’s hope he finds a good solution for the central defense as well.
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