Volland is ranked behind Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich) as the second best striker in the Bundesliga and is included in the International Class category. "The 26-year-old demonstrated his goalscoring instinct with eight goals and, with ten assists, he also showed his value to the team and demonstrated his ability to read the game," was the reasoning. "Volland has become a fixed point in Bayer's attacking game and he has finally become a leader on the pitch," the analysis continued. A noteworthy step up as the winter rankings had the striker as an outsider.
After the 4-0 win against Japan and the 2-1 victory over Ecuador, the Chile team with Charles Aránguiz have their last group match in the Copa America in the early hours of Tuesday. Aránguiz and his La Roja team-mates play second-placed Uruguay in the South American Championships at one in the morning German time. Chile can be relaxed as they already qualified the quarter-finals on Saturday. Wendell was the lucky omen and Chile fan in the stands. Wearing the Chile colours, the Brazilian crosses fingers for his Werkself team-mate – after the game Aránguiz presented him with his shirt as a thank you.
Leon Bailey is also top of the group with Jamaica at the Gold Cup. After the 3-2 win against Honduras and the goalless draw against El Salvador, Bailey and the Reggae Boyz have their last group match in the early hours of Wednesday (kick-off: two in the morning German time). There will be looking to confirm their place in the quarter-finals in the game against Curaçao
While the international players are still away with their countries, the rest of the Werkself are enjoying the last week of the summer holidays before it's back to work next week. On the morning of Monday 1 July there are the performance tests followed in the afternoon by the start of training. The first pros have already started to return to the BayArena. Returnee Niklas Lomb has been working on his own in the Werkstatt since last week. Karim Bellarabi and Joel Pohjanpalo are both expected back this week. After being sidelined with injuries in the second half of the season, they are completing a few special sessions under the guidance of Carsten Rademacher, head of the Werkstatt.
Former Bundesliga and Germany keeper Manfred Manglitz, who was promoted to the Oberliga West with Bayer 04 in 1962, passed away on Monday at the age of 86.
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The FIFA World Cup 2026 in the USA, Canada and Mexico is underway. A total of eight Leverkusen players are taking part in the 23rd World Cup, with 48 teams in the tournament for the first time. Bayer04.de brings you all the latest from Werkself players at the World Cup.
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Following the summer break of around two months, the Bayer 04 first team squad took to the training pitches at the BayArena for the first time on Tuesday – and the players were in high spirits. Alongside the newly formed coaching team led by head coach Carles Martínez, new signing Afonso Moreira also completed his first session with the squad. In front of several hundred Bayer 04 fans at the open session, numerous Werkself players worked up a good sweat. The Leverkusen players who took part in the World Cup will join pre-season training at a later date.
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In mid-August, the Werkself will set off on a four-day trip to England to play their final two friendly matches of the 2026/27 pre-season against Premier League clubs Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United. The match in Nottingham against the Tricky Trees is on Wednesday 12 August at 20:45 CEST (19:45 BST) at the City Ground. The game against the Magpies in Newcastle is on Saturday 15 August at 16:00 CEST (15:00 BST) at the atmospheric St James’ Park. Details on ticket sales for both matches.
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