A total of 22 outfield players plus four goalkeepers were welcomed back by Peter Bosz (HERE the 56-year-old talks about the start of training sessions) under the eyes of sporting managing director Rudi Völler and sporting director Simon Rolfes at the training ground. The Dutchman had Lars Bender and Co. begin the 75-minute session with classic rondos. That was followed by passing drills, shooting practice and finished with a game on a smaller pitch before Bosz ended the first training just after 19.04.
Absentees were Paulinho, who is out of action for a long time following his torn cruciate, plus the trio of returning loanees Tin Jedvaj (from FC Augsburg), Joel Pohjanpalo (Hamburg SV) and Panos Retsos (Sheffield United). The returnees cannot play in the Europa League; Bosz has given them an extension to their time off.
After six and a half years, Exequiel Palacios is leaving the Bundesliga and moving from Bayer 04 to the Premier League. The Argentine, who as a Werkself player won the World Cup with his national team four years ago and finished as runners-up at this summer’s tournament, will play for newly promoted English side Ipswich Town with immediate effect. The 27-year-old, whose contract in Leverkusen was due to run until 30 June 2030, joined Bayer 04 in January 2020 as a promising young talent. He steadily developed into one of the best defensive midfielders in the German top flight.
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When Exequiel Palacios moved from the Argentinian club River Plate to Bayer Leverkusen on 1 January 2020, the then 21-year-old could not have imagined just how successful the next six and a half years would be for him. Pala, as he is known, had already won the Copa Libertadores – the most prestigious competition in South American club football – with River Plate. But there were still so many more trophies to come.
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To mark Exequiel Palacios’s departure, we’ve put together a compilation of the midfielder’s finest and most important goals from his six-and-a-half years at the club.
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Newly promoted SV 07 Elversberg will begin the 2026/27 season as Bundesliga club number 59. The Saarland club start their first Bundesliga campaign at home to the Werkself on Saturday, 29 August (kick-off 15:30 CEST) at the URSAPHARM Arena on Kaiserlinde, which is currently being rebuilt. For one Leverkusen player in the ‘Elv’ line-up, the clash will be a special reunion. The lowdown on our next opponents.
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