"Charly brought the muscular problems back from his holiday. He's an important player for us so the injury obviously hurts us," said Peter Bosz who explained that Aránguiz had to break off a training run back home. As the Chilean had further problems with his calf in yesterday's warm-up, an MRI scan was organised for the evening. The 30-year-old flew back to Germany on Tuesday morning for further investigations. A final diagnosis remains to be made. Despite that, Bosz made it clear: "He will stay in Leverkusen and can start rehab there straight away."
Kerem Demirbay's injury is less severe. The 26-year-old twisted his ankle in training yesterday but examinations did not reveal any serious injury. "His ankle was taped this morning and we hoped he could join in. But I saw straight away that he was limping a bit. Therefore we didn't want to take any risks with today's football fitness training as that's when the risk is highest," said the head coach. Demirbay returned to the team hotel early but should be back in training in the short term.
There was also positive news from La Manga, for example with today's training session. Speaking about the fitness session that is usually the toughest of the week, Bosz said: "I was very happy with the session today. I'm very satisfied!" After the warm-up, the coach had his players practising intense attacking football in 11 against 11 with four 13 minute games. After two rounds the number of players was reduced to ten against ten and it finished with one less player on each side.
At the end of the session, Bayer 04 youngster Emrehan Gedikli from the U17s made an appearance. The 16-year-old is currently staying at the same hotel with the Germany U 17 team for a course and, without further ado, he swapped the Germany shirt for a Black and Red one. That all happened under the eyes of the Germany U21 coach Stefan Kuntz who was on the touchline to watch proceedings on the pitch.
After the very intensive session, the Werkself rested on Monday afternoon to gather strength for tomorrow – as once again there are two sessions planned for the day. The morning training will be held behind closed doors. The session in the afternoon is open. All fans at home will be able to see the Werkself on Friday 10 January. Both games on the double matchday against FC Utrecht (15.00 CET) and FC St Gallen (16.00 CET) will be broadcast live on bayer04.de, Facebook and YouTube. It's worth taking a note of those times now.
The European jersey has been launched, the UEL opponents have been drawn – and anticipation for the European campaign is running high. To mark the occasion, an autograph session was held on Friday afternoon, 28 August, at the Fanwelt with current Werkself player Montrell Culbreath and official club legend Paulo Sergio.
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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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