"In addition to impressive pace, Arthur primarily has footballing finesse. He is agile, plays with maturity in defence and is impressive in attack," said Bayer 04 sporting managing director Simon Rolfes. "His signing is a transfer with a long-term perspective and in Arthur we have gained a player capable of developing who we believe can play an important role in the medium term."
"I'm very proud to soon be able to play for Bayer 04. The club is well known and popular in Brazil and a lot of my fellow countrymen have become outstanding football players at Leverkusen," declared the Belo Horizonte-born Arthur. "I'm hoping for that too and I will give my all to be successful with the club – in the Bundesliga and also in European competitions."
The 20-year-old made his debut for the Selecao in Brazil's 2-1 defeat at the weekend in a friendly against Morocco who finished fourth at the World Cup. In the game in Tangiers, the 5'9" Arthur was brought on as a substitute in added time for the Tottenham Hotspur player Emerson by the caretaker coach Ramon Menezes who played for the Werkself for a season in 1995/96 as Ramon Hubner. Arthur played under Menezes for the Brazil U20 team in February 2023 that beat Uruguay 2-0 in the final of the South American U20 Championship.
Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month.
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Kasper Hjulmand has led the Werkself back to winning ways and is back in the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League with Bayer 04 after the 3-0 win against Villarreal on Wednesday evening. In an interview with the Werkself magazine at the BayArena in the team meeting room, directly opposite the dressing room, he provided some special insights for the current issue, which was published in January. A conversation with the 53-year-old coach about values, attitudes and personal experiences as well as interests outside of football.
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The thrilling 3-1 win for Bayer 04 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the Hinrunde is a fond memory for Alejandro Grimaldo, with his brace from free kicks, and coach Kasper Hjulmand, who was in the dugout under the Cross for the first time. Now comes the return fixture in the metropolis on the River Main and after going out of the DFB Pokal and the Champions League, the full focus at Eintracht, currently managed by two interim coaches, is now on the Bundesliga. For their part, the Werkself will do everything in their power to continue the longest winning run against a Bundesliga club. The matchday news.
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Bayer 04 have ended Artem Stepanov’s loan deal at Nürnberg and agreed a new loan to Utrecht in the Netherlands. The Ukrainian striker did not play as much as hoped for at the Bundesliga 2 club and will now continue his development in the Eredivisie for the rest of 2025/26.
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The draw for the knockout play-offs of the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League was made on Friday, 30 January and saw Bayer 04 paired with Olympiacos. It’s a reunion with the Greek side following the Werkself’s 2-0 loss in Athens on Matchday 7 of the league phase.
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