Montrell Culbreath
The winger came to Leverkusen from FC Kaiserslautern two years ago and in his first season with the U17s he was directly involved in more than one goal per game on average. Last season the 17-year-old Germany youth international played a big part in the U19s reaching the German championship final.
Ben Hawighorst
Leverkusen through and through – and a player who leads the way. In addition to his role as captain of the Werkself U17 team last season, the defender also led out the Germany U17s. The left-footer, who has already been at Bayer 04 for seven years, has again and again played for the U19s in selected matches. That includes the UEFA Youth League where he started five out of six games. The 17-year-old has been a member of the U19 squad since the summer.
Jeremiah Mensah
The versatile offensive player, like Ben Hawighorst, again and again switched between the U17 and U19 teams last season. The Germany youth international has been at Bayer 04 since he was six. The one-year older brother of the 17-year-old, Naba Mensah, is also in the Leverkusen U19 squad.
Osman Turay
Bayer 04 signed the 17-year-old left-sided defender from Schalke 04 in the middle of June. The Germany youth international will play for the Werkself U19 team. In last season's finals of the Germany U19 championship he was in both knockout matches for Schalke, including against Bayer 04, over the full distance including extra time.
Simeon Rapsch
The 17-year-old completes the goalkeeper line-up at the training camp. In the summer of last year, the tall keeper left his hometown club FC Viktoria Köln to join Leverkusen where he played in goal for the U17 team. This season he is in the U19 squad.
Nebe Domnic
The youngest of the travelling talented youngsters is a full-back. The Germany youth international, who joined Leverkusen from FC Viktoria Köln in 2022, has been part of the U19 squad since the summer at the age of 16.
Ferdinand Pohl
A classic Bayer 04 home-grown player. The central defender, who made over 30 appearances for the U19s, played as a number six in the closing stages of last season due to injuries to teammates. The 18-year-old has already played for Germany youth teams.
Dustin Buck
A week ago, Bayer 04 announced the signing of the 17-year-old offensive player. The Germany U17 international joined Leverkusen from the youth set-up at FC Augsburg. He prefers to play on the right wing but he can also play in the centre-forward position.
Emmanuel Owen
In his first season under the Cross, the left-footer signed from TSG Hoffenheim in the summer played as a winger in 22 games for U19s.
Ken Izekor
The powerful centre-forward has been at Bayer 04 since the age of eleven. Having joined the club from Alemannia Aachen back then, he progressed through all the Werkself youth sides and he was in running to play for the Germany U16 and U17 teams.
The Werkself need a win in their penultimate match of the season at RB Leipzig on Monday evening (18:00 CEST) to keep their hopes of third place alive until the final day. After Eintracht Frankfurt lost on Saturday, Roberto Pätzold's side can close the gap on their rivals to two points and leave it all to play for next Sunday.
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Werkself TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-3 loss at VfB Stuttgart on Matchday 33 of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season...
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Down to fifth from fourth place despite taking an early lead: in the head-to-head for a Champions League spot, Bayer 04 were 1-0 up at VfB Stuttgart with just a minute played thanks to an Aleix Garcia strike, but ultimately lost 3-1 (2-1) to the more determined hosts. It meant the Swabians leapfrogged the Werkself in the Bundesliga table on the penultimate matchday.
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Today sees Bayer 04 go head-to-head with their next direct rivals in the race for Champions League qualification (kick-off 15:30 CEST). Opponents Stuttgart are currently fifth in the table, level on points with the Werkself but one place below them due to a three-goal inferior goal difference. The Black and Reds' record at Bad Cannstatt tells a clearer story: they've not lost at VfB for over 16 years. One important factor in securing what would be three crucial points away from home is Leverkusen's strength on the counter-attack. Whilst Stuttgart are also extremely dangerous going forward, they will be without their captain. Today’s matchday news.
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