After nearly three months, Jarell Quansah and Exequiel Palacios – who won bronze and silver respectively with England and Argentina at the World Cup – were back on the training pitches at the BayArena, working under head coach Carles Martínez for the first time. Before that, they met up with their new team-mates Miguel Gutiérrez and Afonso Moreira in the dressing room.
After the customary guard of honour formed by the squad and coaching staff, the Werkself got straight down to business with the returning duo. Alongside Quansah and Palacios, Axel Tape (illness) and Nathan Tella (muscle problems) also took part in the final training session before the team’s departure for England.
The Werkself will play the first of two friendly matches on English soil this week on Wednesday 12 August, away to Premier League side Nottingham Forest. Kick-off at the City Ground is at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST). Bayer 04 will broadcast the match live and exclusively for members in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
The final warm-up match before the start of the new season is on Saturday 15 August against Premier League side Newcastle United. Kick-off at St James’ Park is at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST). Bayer 04 will stream the match live, free of charge, with login-required.
The matches can be watched on bayer04.de, the Bayer 04 app and on Werkself.tv.
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