Bayer 04 have extended the contract with Yannik Schlößer by two years to 30 June 2023. The 19-year-old striker, who has played for several Werkself youth teams, joins FC Nürnberg on a 12-month loan deal with immediate effect. "Yannik is a very talented striker," said Bayer 04 sporting director Simon Rolfes. "We believe FC Nürnberg will give him the ideal opportunity to take the next step in his development as a football player."
A majority of the Werkself squad, plus additional players from the youth section, returned to the training ground this week and are now working flat-out for the new season. The new head coach Gerardo Seoane has held a training session every morning followed by further sessions in the gym at the BayArena in the afternoon.
Karim Bellarabi, Jonathan Tah and Co. completed an intensive set of drills on Friday morning all of which ended with shots at the goals minded by Lennart Grill, Niklas Lomb and U19 keeper Maximilian Neutgens. The high tempo and the varying workloads at the different stops saw the Werkself players work up a sweat. To finish off, there was a match on a small-scale pitch involving lots of tackles and quick decision making.
The summer internationals are in full swing. While the Werkself players at Euro 2020 (Lukas Hradecky, Joel Pohjanpalo, Julian Baumgartlinger and Patrik Schick) are now enjoying a well-deserved holiday, several of their Leverkusen teammates are still on international duty. A round-up:
Günter Drews completed his final steps in the youth section under the Bayer Cross in the middle of the 1980s. Signed from BFC Preussen, in his home town of Berlin, the midfielder made his breakthrough to professional football at Leverkusen. Drews made 46 Bundesliga appearances between 1985 and 1987. He went on to play in the top-flight for Hannover 96 and FC Nürnberg. The former player celebrates his 54th birthday today (Friday). Many happy returns, Günter.
Still playing at a young age is Chinedu Ekene. The centre-forward progressed through all the youth teams at Bayer 04 before moving onto the TSG Hoffenheim second team in 2018. The 22-year-old, celebrating his birthday today, joined third division MSV Duisburg in the summer. We wish you all the best, Chinedu.
They narrowly missed out on the title in the spring of this year as they enjoyed their most successful season to date under the Bayer Cross. Now they want to build on that success. In an interview ahead of today's start of the new season in the VBL Club Championship by WOW (live on the Bayer 04 app from 18:00 CEST), the two Bayer 04 eSports players and cousins Marc and Sean Landwehr talk about the organisational changes to the VBL CC and their everyday lives as professional gamers and they also give pro tips for the new EA FC 26.
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A Black and Red player in the U20 World Cup final in Chile. Alejo Sarco and Argentina beat Colombia 1-0 in the semi-final on Wednesday night. Morocco, who knocked out France, now await in the final on Sunday night.
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Here we go! The new season of the VBL Club Championship by WOW starts on Thursday, 16 October. The games can be seen live on the Bayer 04 app and on the club Twitch channel. Bayer04.de presents an overview of the first opponents for the Leverkusen eSports team in the new season.
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The autumn holidays attracted a host of Bayer 04 fans to the BayArena on Tuesday, 14 October. An open training session for the Werkself in the morning ended with the players taking time out for selfies and autograph requests from the 160 or so fans in attendance. During a children's press conference organised by Barmenia Gothaer, Werkself player Arthur and Kristin Kögel from the Bayer 04 Women's team fielded questions posed by the youngsters. Meanwhile, a trio of young players from the Leverkusen U19 squad put a smile on everyone's faces at a meet & greet event. And fans enjoyed a range of exciting activities at the Fanwelt.
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