"It feels good to get going again. And, of course, it's even more fun with this weather and on these pitches," said Peter Bosz after the almost exactly 60-minute long foray into the new season. With pleasant summer weather conditions and under the eyes of sporting director Simon Rolfes, Bayer 04 CEO Fernando Carro and numerous fans, the three new signings Kerem Demirbay, Moussa Diaby and Daley Sinkgraven showed what they could do. "You can't say too much about the lads after just one hour on the training ground. But I think you could see they are good players," said the 55-year-old Dutchman who put the Werkself squad through their paces with sprints and stamina work plus passing and shooting drills before rounding it off with a practice match.
The Werkself international players Lukas Hradecky, Julian Baumgartlinger, Aleksandar Dragovic, Kai Havertz, Tin Jedvaj plus Charles Aránguiz, Leon Bailey and Jonathan Tah, who captained the Germany U 21s in the European Championship final on Sunday, were unavailable for the first training session. While the first mentioned are due to return next Monday, Tah, Bailey and Aránguiz will be away a little longer – and are only expected to return to Leverkusen after the training camp in Zell am See-Kaprun (15 to 21 July). "They need rest. We are trying to give all players – including Jonathan Tah, Charles Aránguiz and Leon Bailey – three weeks holiday. If we don't do that then they could get injured or go into the new season tired," explained Bosz before adding: "That gives other players the opportunity to show what they can do."
For example in the first friendly on Saturday (6 July, 17.00 CET) away to Regional League side Wuppertaler SV. The head coach said all players available to him will play for at least 45 minutes. Until then there are two other open training sessions this week (Tuesday and Friday each at 10.30 CET) plus the obligatory medical performance tests on Thursday.
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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