For the last time at this year's summer training camp, head coach Gerardo Seoane led two training sessions on one day. In the morning, the Swiss mainly focused on crosses, moves and finishing. Back with the group again: Youngster Emrehan Gedikli who was rested the day before as a control of his workload.
The 70-minute session was followed by the obligatory group photo with all the players, coaches and staff. They were joined on the photo by two representatives of the Zell am See-Kaprun holiday region, a long-standing partner of Bayer 04: Renate Ecker, CEO of Zell am See-Kaprun Tourismus GmbH, and Hannes Herr from SalzburgerLand Tourismus GmbH.
The second session in the afternoon was primarily spent on the neighbouring pitch at the Alois Latini Stadium. Jonathan Tah and Co. pulled on bibs and played across the whole pitch. The management plus players and coaches welcomed Werner Wenning to the second training session of the day. The chair of the Bayer 04 shareholders committee was there as a guest.
The training camp ends on Friday, 23 July with a friendly. The Werkself round off the training camp with a game against SC Freiburg in Wattens. The kick-off is at 14.00 CEST and the match will be broadcast live on the Bayer 04 YouTube channel.
After the second session, some of the Werkself players collected their towels for the first visit to Lake Zell at this year's training camp. The outfield players cooled down just a few metres away from the training ground. The goalkeeping quartet were ahead of the rest – Lukas Hradecky, Andrey Lunev, Lennart Grill and Niklas Lomb had already jumped into the lake in the morning.
While the majority of the Werkself squad are working hard in Austria, two Bayer 04 players are away in Japan. Nadiem Amiri (Germany) and Paulinho (Brazil) kick off the Olympic Games football tournament on Thursday. The opening match in Group D in Yokohama at 13.30 CEST brings a face-to-face meeting between the two Leverkusen players.
Amiri is really looking forward to the clash with his teammate: "Such a cracker in the first match – every player is up for that!" Paulinho and Co. are based in the Olympic village just one floor below the Germany squad. "You can notice with the news that there is a certain tension," said Amiri with a smile.
Two former Werkself players celebrate their birthdays today (Wednesday). Ömer Toprak, captain of Werder Bremen, is 32 years old. The Turk played under the Bayer Cross from 2011 to 2017. During his time at Bayer 04, Toprak took part in four summer training sessions in Zell am See-Kaprun.
Andriy Voronin, at Leverkusen from 2004 to 2007, turned 42 on Wednesday. The former centre-forward has worked alongside Sandro Schwarz as assistant coach at the top Russian club Dynamo Moscow since November of last year.
A round-up of the Werkself training camp in the Weimarer Land, all in one place: in our daily blog you’ll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day four (Wednesday 5 August) is all about training. The day begins with a gruelling open training session – new signing Miguel Gutiérrez also takes part. A second session follows in the afternoon, this time behind closed doors.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have signed Spanish left-back Miguel Gutiérrez from Napoli. The 25-year-old has signed a contract with the club to 30 June 2031. Gutiérrez came through the youth ranks at Real Madrid; he moved to Italy a year ago from Girona, and he played a key role for Napoli with 36 appearances. The big Italian club finished last season as runners-up in Serie A.
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New signing Miguel Gutiérrez arrives in Leverkusen having won the Champions League, the Spanish league title and an Olympic gold medal. However, the 25-year-old Spaniard, signed from Napoli, is looking to the future – he wants to write the next chapter of success with the Werkself. Bayer04.de takes a closer look at the skilful, attack-minded left-back, who will wear the number 3 jersey.
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The Werkself's training camp in Weimarer Land all in one place: in our daily blog you'll find all the insights and updates from the day. Day three (Tuesday 4 August) begins with a thorough open session on the pitch. After lunch, some players have media engagements at the team hotel, and then the team come together for a barbecue in the evening.
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