Who is Alajbegovic, the Salzburg star who led Bosnia to the World Cup play-off final against Italy?

A winger, he prefers to play on the left so he can cut inside onto his stronger foot to shoot at goal or play a through ball to a teammate; if necessary, he can also switch to the other flank (his role remains the same, as he is equally comfortable using his left foot) or be deployed in the attacking midfield role behind a centre-forward. One of his specialities is dribbling; once he gets going at speed, he’s unstoppable, and those who mark him closely swear he has the vision of a thirty-year-old. Having come through the youth ranks at Bayer Leverkusen, he took (almost) all the set-pieces for the German club.

Incidentally: Bayer announced that it had exercised the buy-back clause for Alajbegovic from next season, just a few hours after the victory against Bosnia; an investment of €8 million, pending a decision on whether to keep him in the squad for the 2026/27 season or consider any offers (starting at €30–35 million). In the past, the player had also been tracked by Milan, Roma and Lazio, but there were never any concrete talks about bringing him to Serie A.