At Bayer Leverkusen, followers and consultants are comparatively in settlement forward of in the present day’s season begin of the Werkself towards Hoffenheim: This might be a sophisticated season. Not as a result of they do not belief Erik ten Hag – who did not precisely cowl himself in glory throughout his time at Manchester United – to observe up on Xabi Alonso’s successes. However far more as a result of virtually nothing stays of the crew with which Alonso was so profitable.
The largest loss is actually Florian Wirtz, who went to Liverpool for over 130 million euros. With him, the decisive artistic participant is gone. Some Leverkusen followers is perhaps reminded of the 2020/21 season when Kai Havertz was offered to Chelsea and the crew ended up solely sixth. And on prime of that, Wirtz shouldn’t be the one one who has left the membership.
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Jeremie Frimpong, Odilon Kossounou, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky, Amine Adli, and Jonathan Tah, key performers from the Alonso period, have additionally left the membership. Is the crew now falling aside?
📸 Stuart Franklin – 2024 Getty Photographs
If that’s the case, then in response to plan. For all these gamers, the membership collected excess of 200 million euros. And a have a look at the expenditures exhibits: They know how one can reinvest the cash fairly effectively. In response to ‘transfermarkt.de’, the membership has already invested over 140 million euros – together with in Malik Tillman, Jarell Quansah, Ibrahim Maza, Mark Flekken, Ernest Poku, Christian Kofane and most just lately Claudio Echeverri or Loic Badé.
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The hundreds of thousands in income thus flowed not solely into the money register but in addition again onto the pitch. And extra gamers may observe, reminiscent of Claudio Echeverri or Loic Badé. It’s clear: There is no such thing as a one Wirtz successor or one new Tah. This time, the duties are to be distributed amongst many shoulders. Each newcomer is relieved, nobody is alone within the highlight or beneath strain to be the brand new famous person from the beginning.
As an alternative of counting on particular person difference-makers, Leverkusen will focus extra on the collective sooner or later. Fittingly, they’ve employed Erik ten Hag, a former Ajax coach who stands for crew soccer. No league lives this concept as strongly because the Dutch one. And no league is as well-known for skills. Each appear to have been checked by Leverkusen of their transfers. At 23, Malik Tillman is already one of many extra skilled newcomers. However somebody has to carry the younger gang collectively in spite of everything.
Tillman is taken into account a quiet kind who needed to study to turn into louder. “To claim your self in soccer, it’s important to come out of your shell, turn into loud and elbow your manner by way of,” he instructed ‘Bild’ within the winter of 2024. He has labored intensively on this. This mixture of restraint in on a regular basis life and management qualities on the pitch makes him so useful to Bayer.
The truth that Leverkusen is planning with him on the heart can be proven by a report from ‘kicker’. In response to this, Tillman is anticipated to play towards TSG Hoffenheim in the present day – although he missed all the preparation. First, he was with the nationwide crew on the Gold Cup, then a calf harm set him again. It could be a dangerous chilly begin.
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Subsequent to him, extra new faces may seem. Each Ibrahim Maza, who got here from Berlin, and Ernest Poku have already collected minutes within the DFB Cup. Poku, like Tillman, got here from the Eredivisie – however from Alkmaar – and contributed a scorer level in his first aggressive match. Within the 4:0 towards Sonnenhof Aspach, 4 completely different scorers scored, three others assisted. One objective got here from the spot. The Dutch handwriting is clearly recognizable. Not one scores or assists, however many.
Whether or not this is sufficient to compete for the Champions League locations once more stays to be seen. However one factor is evident: A brand new solo entertainer like Wirtz shouldn’t be wanted – if the collective works.
And the squad overhaul is much from over. Victor Boniface appears to be transferring in direction of Serie A. On the similar time, different names are circulating, together with Quinten Timber from Feyenoord or Jonathan Clauss from Good. They’d additionally match completely into the brand new profile. So the carousel continues to show: Previous faces go away, new skills arrive.
In 2020 it was Havertz, in 2025 Wirtz. Perhaps in a number of years, a number of massive names will fall that nobody has on their radar in the present day. In any case, Leverkusen has introduced in sufficient candidates for that.
This text was translated into English by Synthetic Intelligence.
📸 Christof Koepsel – 2025 Getty Photographs