News in brief: Silver for Wirtz and bronze for Schick

20 players were at training on Thursday, 30 December. With the temperatures at a pleasant 14 degrees and little rain, the Werkself were able to lay the foundations for the second half of the season for 90 minutes on training pitch one. Head coach Gerardo Seoane was in a good mood afterwards and gave personnel updates to a media conference.

Trio on their own

The only player currently injured is Julian Baumgartlinger. The Austria international underwent an operation on a knee injury in the summer and will shortly continue with his rehab. Edmond Tapsoba, Odilon Kossounou and Piero Hincapie are currently not in Europe. While Tapsoba and Kossounou are preparing for the Africa Cup of Nations, starting in Cameroon on 9 January 2022, with their national sides, Hincapie is stuck in Ecuador due to a positive Covid-19 test. Amine Adli, Charles Aránguiz and Timothy Fosu-Mensah have worked on their own this week. All three have "physical problems – of different degrees," said Seoane who is, however, hopeful that the trio will be back on the training ground next week.

Kicker rankings: Wirtz and Schick on the podium

The football journal kicker has again published their ranking of German football before the turn of the year. The performances of Bundesliga players in the first half of the season are rated according to positions and a certain category. Jonathan Tah has been named the eleventh best central defender in the top-flight. Jeremie Frimpong (wing back) is again in fifth place and new signing Piero Hincapie is in tenth spot.

Robert Andrich is currently in sixth position in defensive midfield while youngster Florian Wirtz is second in attacking midfield behind Thomas Müller (world class). "The highly gifted 18-year-old presents his outstanding technique in dealing with the most difficult of passes as well as with precise assists and clinical finishing," was the explanation of the assessment. Wirtz leads the international class.

Moussa Diaby is ranked seventh amongst wingers and, with the strikers, Patrik Schick is the only player listed in the international class category. The reasoning for the assessment: "The Czech technician has had the best first half of the season of his career." The only players listed above him are Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland (both world class).

Castro signs for Bielefeld

Gonzalo Castro was at Bayer 04 for 16 years and he developed at Kurtekotten into an established Bundesliga player. The central midfielder has made 409 Bundesliga appearances to date including 286 for the Black and Reds (25 goals, 58 assists). The 34-year-old was last at VfB Stuttgart for three years following on from the same period at Borussia Dortmund. A few days ago, Castro signed for the fourth Bundesliga club in his career – Arminia Bielefeld. The homegrown Bayer 04 former player is hoped to give the club from East Westphalia the benefit of his experience of 15 years in the Bundesliga and help them in their relegation battle. The contract at Arminia runs to the end of the season with the option of a one-year extension. Good luck, Gonzo!

Hilbert named U19 coach

Castro's former Leverkusen teammate Roberto Hilbert, with the Black and Reds from 2013 to 2017, hung up his boots in the summer of 2019. The former right-back has moved from the pitch to the dugout and he's been working for the last two and a half years as the assistant of the second team at Greuther Fürth. As recently announced by the Cloverleaves, the former Leverkusen player takes up a new position at the club at the start of the year in charge of the U19s. Here too, good luck!

many happy returns, Berti Vogts

Bayer 04 was the only club he coached: Berti Vogts resigned as Germany coach in September 1998 after eight years and the former Borussia Mönchengladbach player was in the Werkself dugout two years later. He stayed there to the end of the 2000/01 season where the Black and Reds ‘only’ ended up in fourth place despite leading the table earlier in the season. Bayer 04 and Vogts parted company a day after the last match of the season.

The experienced coach, who guided Germany to winning the Euros in 1996, then exchanged club football for working at international level – and he made his way around the world. There were coaching positions with the national teams of Kuwait (2001 – 02), Scotland (2002 – 04), Nigeria (2007 – 08), Azerbaijan (2008 – 14) plus as part of the management of the USA team (2014 – 16) and the German Football Association (2018 – 21). Vogts celebrates his 75th birthday today. Congratulations.