New Bayer Leverkusen goalkeeper Mark Flekken has suggested his wife may have been the driving force behind his move to the club and exit from Brentford.
[Flekken has been speaking to ESPN’s Netherlands edition](https://x.com/ESPNnl/status/1930225934478487994) during Netherlands training, when the subject of his transfer was brought up.
The 31-year-old has swapped Brentford for Leverkusen this summer, completing a €10m deal that will see him return to Germany after previous spells at Freiburg, Greuther Fürth MSV Duisburg and Alem. Aachen.
He had been with Brentford in England for two years but admits that the chance to return to Germany was too tempting, particularly for his wife.
_“Yes, that is great,”_ he said when asked about the move.
_“That was a great opportunity to take a step forward in both sporting and private matters and to get a step closer to home. When my wife heard that, she immediately thought yes, we should try to arrange that.”_
He’ll find a fellow Dutchman at Leverkusen when he arrives, with Erik ten Hag taking charge of the team this summer after Xabi Alonso joined Real Madrid.
It had been suggested that he might have been a driving force behind the move for his fellow countryman, who he will have plenty of knowledge of given they were both in the Premier League at the same time.
Flekken, though, insists that is not the case and, in fact, he is yet to speak to his new manager beyond a welcome text.
_“The interest was indeed already there,”_ he added.
_“I had also reached my personal agreement with the club before Erik Ten Hag started working at Leverkusen. But yes, that makes communication between us a lot easier of course._
_“No, not yet (they haven’t spoken). I did get a message from him after the transfer was announced. No, but the deeper conversations will follow.”_