Facundo Medina: A €20 Million Transfer
Argentine defender Facundo Medina, who as a boy in a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood collected cardboard to survive, is now arriving in Leverkusen for his medical with Bayer.
Argentine defender Facundo Medina, who as a boy in a poor Buenos Aires neighborhood collected cardboard to survive, is now arriving in Leverkusen for his medical with Bayer.
Argentine defender Facundo Medina is arriving in Leverkusen on Monday, August 10, 2026, for his medical, the final step before signing with Bayer Leverkusen. The German club will pay Marseille a transfer fee of €20 million, and Medina is expected to sign a contract running until 2031.
Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg announced on Twitter on August 8 that the transfer was agreed. The news quickly spread through German public discourse, not only because of the transfer fee but also due to the incredible life story of the Argentine footballer, which Bild covered extensively.
Medina grew up in Villa Fiorito, a poor neighborhood in southern Buenos Aires, the same one that produced Argentine football icon Diego Armando Maradona. In his hometown, he is known as "the kid from Fiorito," and his journey from collecting waste to the Argentine national team and European clubs has inspired many.
To help his family, Medina as a boy collected paper, cardboard, and other recyclable materials daily on the streets of Buenos Aires. "I had other jobs too. You had to survive in that neighborhood. I had to rent a cart and work, like everyone else. I went to collect cardboard with my uncles and the whole family. It was a family business from Monday to Friday. We had food, but we had to work hard. We left around four or five in the afternoon and came back around nine or ten at night," Medina told ESPN.
At age 12, he was accepted into the academy of the famous River Plate, but in 2018, the club released him. That setback did not break him; Medina joined CA Talleres, where he established himself as a reliable defender. Interestingly, Talleres had already served as a stepping stone to Europe for former Leverkusen player Piero Hincapié, who now wears the jersey of Arsenal, the current English champions.
Medina's first European stint was at French club Lens, and he now arrives in Leverkusen directly from Marseille. German media have written extensively about his past, highlighting the contrast between his difficult childhood and his current success.
Medina, alongside Maradona, is one of the most famous footballers to rise from Villa Fiorito to the global football stage.
