With the goalkeepers it is no surprise that Manuel Neuer leads the way this time round with the Kicker editorial staff ranking him as "world-class". He is followed by seven other keepers in the international class including Bernd Leno in a repeat of last year. The half-term report on the 24-year-old Werkself shot-stopper says: "The two mistakes against Hamburg and Leipzig were Bernd Leno's only faults and the Leverkusen keeper produced outstanding performances against Gladbach, Ingolstadt and against CSKA Moscow in the Champions League. He definitely had the quality and consistency for the international class."
Benjamin Henrichs is the shooting star of the Werkself, rising from almost nothing to full international status and has rightly earned his position in the up-and-coming category – just behind Bayern's David Alaba and ahead of stalwarts like Juan Bernat, Marcel Schmelzer and Rafinha. Benjamin Henrichs made his debut for Germany in November after a meteoric rise. At the end of the year he ran out of steam to some extent and his performances suffered. But he earned one of the top average marks of 2.4 after strong set of performances in the group stage of the Champions League."
For the Kicker, Jonathan Tah is the second best central defender in Germany after Mats Hummels. His assessment declares: "In a repeat of last season, the Leverkusen player has proved to be very consistent – with all his well-known qualities: physically strong, quick, and anything but immobile in spite of his stature." With Ömer Toprak the journal reports: "His average mark in the league (3.55) was not enough to make the rankings. However, his impressive performances in the Champions League have raised him up to the prospects category.
This fan meeting got off to a rather unexpected start. On Sunday afternoon, the Bayer 04 managing directors had just welcomed the fans present at the team hotel for the traditional get-together at the training camp when Fernando Carro’s phone rang. The CEO, glancing towards managing director sport Simon Rolfes with a smile, said: “We’ll just have to answer that quickly.” When asked by the fans what the call was actually about, the pair left it open with a wink. Instead, Carro and Rolfes then spent over an hour happily answering the fans’ many other questions.
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Bayer 04 Leverkusen have agreed Kerim Alajbegovic’s transfer to Italian record champions Juventus. The club brought the 18-year-old attacking player back to Leverkusen this summer via a buy-back option, following a season at Red Bull Salzburg. Until his move to Austria, the Bosnia international had been playing for Bayer 04’s Under-19s.
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A warm welcome to the Weimarer Land, Bayer 04! The Werkself moved into their accommodation for this year’s training camp on Saturday evening. In Blankenhain, Thuringia, head coach Carles Martínez’s team have a programme of gruelling training sessions – several of which will be open to fans – and team-building activities lined up for the next six days. We’ll be following the Werkself up close and providing you with exclusive insights, quotes, photos and videos from the training camp.
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With 22 days to go until the start of the Bundesliga campaign, the Bayer 04 Women’s team have gained a fresh boost of confidence. In a friendly against Belgian top-flight side KRC Genk on Saturday afternoon, coach Roberto Pätzold’s team secured a 1–0 win. Lobke Loonen (20’) scored the winner for the Black and Reds at the Kurtekotten training centre.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of the 3-0 victory in the friendly match against Rot-Weiss Essen...
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