The 22-year-old gave his first interview on Bayer 04 TV yesterday and today he was interviewed by journalists after his first training session. "I'm just really happy to finally be at Bayer 04 – here you have everything you want. My aim is to settle in, give my all and quickly integrate with the team," said Amiri. The first training session with his new team-mates gave him the taste for more. "It's a great group here with lots of young and hungry players," said the former Hoffenheim player.
The new Werkself number 11 certainly put in a shift in his first session: Peter Bosz and his fellow coaches once again prepared a high-intensity session – with lots of sprints and finally a competitive training match. "It was really very tough today," declared Amiri. No wonder that most of the Werkself players were laid out on their backs taking a breather after a tough 90-minute work out before the communal finish.
In addition to Amiri, Charles Aránguiz was also back on the training ground after yesterday taking part in full training for the first time following his extended holiday due to his participation in the Copa America. Three players were out injured on Wednesday. Mitchell Weiser, Lars Bender and Joel Pohjanpalo. Julian Baumgartlinger was also missing as he was rested. The Austrian should – after the day off on Thursday – return to training with team on Friday. Moussa Diaby completed a one-to-one session with fitness coach Daniel Jouvain on a neighbouring pitch.
Young Werkself fans could hardly wait for the summer holidays. Once again, the Bayer 04 Soccer School summer camp was open. Hundreds of football crazy youngsters have taken part in the camps this summer where they enjoyed their favourite pastime and learned one or two new tricks. The youngsters spend a week at Bayer 04 and are coached under professional conditions. A highlight of the camp for years: A Werkself pro calls in on the kids. Last week it was the turn of Kerem Demirbay and this Wednesday saw Daley Sinkgraven appear as a guest at the media centre in the BayArena. He received a great and vocal reception from the camp participants. The Werkself new signing took his place on the top table where the Werkself number 22 was peppered with questions from the kids in the style of a real press conference. When all the questions had been answered, it was time for an autograph or a selfie. And it ended with a group photograph being taken as a memento.
The Bayer 04 women’s team secured a win in the friendly during the international break. Without a total of eight international players, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team defeated Bundesliga 2 side Borussia Mönchengladbach 3–1 at the Kurtekotten Training Centre, thanks to goals from Lobke Loonen (1’, penalty), Caroline Kehrer (41') and Valentina Mädl (66').
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Bayer 04 will have to manage without striker Christian Kofane in the coming weeks. The 20-year-old sustained a muscle injury to his left thigh on international duty with the Cameroon national team during the recent international break. This will prevent him from playing in the upcoming Werkself matches.
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FSV Mainz 05 went into the international break on the back of an away win at Borussia Mönchengladbach. Currently sixth in the table, the Rheinhessen side – who have been impressive on the road – now aim to continue their good start to the Bundesliga campaign at home when they face the Werkself on Saturday, 10 October (kick-off: 15:30 CEST). In terms of squad selection, Urs Fischer once again has more options at his disposal. Up front, the Mainz coach is likely to continue relying on what is currently the league’s most successful strike partnership. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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Exciting experiences and exclusive insights into the Werkself and the BayArena awaited the young footballers from the BA04 Football Academy Guangzhou in China during their visit to the Rhineland this week. As well as taking part in a joint training session with the Bayer 04 Football Academy, the youngsters marvelled at the Bundesliga club’s stadium during a guided tour. The highlight of the visit was a private press conference with former Bayer 04 striker Stefan Kießling, during which he shared tips from his own career with the young players. On Saturday afternoon, 10 October, the group will round off their visit by supporting the Werkself in the away match in Mainz.
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Fans ask, Carolin Simon answers: As part of Bayer 04’s second Ask Me Anything (AMA) session on Reddit, the Leverkusen captain took questions from the community. The full-back, who returned to the club this summer after ten years away, set aside an hour and a half for the Q&A session with fans, offering a very personal insight into, amongst other things, her daily life as a footballer and her role as captain, as well as her passion for Pokémon.
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