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.
Two keepers, lots of questions: Werkself captain Lukas Hradecky and U19 goalkeeper Jesper Schlich visited the BarmeniaGothaer children’s press conference in partnership with the Bayer 04 Lions Club on Wednesday afternoon. The duo faced interesting and at times unusual questions from around 50 inquisitive young journalists in the press conference room at the BayArena.
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After returning from Hamburg and a day off on Easter Monday, the Werkself players were back on the training ground at the BayArena on Tuesday morning. Following the session, Amine Adli was very positive in a media interview about the remaining four matches including the forthcoming home game against FC Augsburg (Saturday, 26 April, 15:30 CEST): "We will give our all to end the season as well as we can!"
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Bayer 04 are now unbeaten in the last 32 Bundesliga away games (the second longest run in the history of the Bundesliga) but players and coaches were self-critical after the 1-1 draw at FC St. Pauli. "Our performances aren’t good enough," said goalscorer Patrik Schick after the game. The Werkself review of the Sunday night match at the Millerntor.
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Werkself-TV shows the highlights of Bayer 04's 1-1 draw at FC St. Pauli on the 30th matchday of the Bundesliga 2024/25...
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