What awaits Schick after his return to Leverkusen? A new coach and formation, striped jerseys, a new teammate from PSG and defensive problems

Bayer Leverkusen had a rough season. Coach Wolf saved the club at least the cups, but the team’s form was at the breaking point. Now, however, reforms are beginning. The club has brought in two players, with three more returning from the EUROs with great form. He also showed a good set of new jerseys, the only blemish now is injuries.

Successful EURO for Werkself

Bayer Leverkusen sent four players from their ranks to the European Championship. Two representatives of the Scandinavian country (goalkeeper Hradecky and returnee from the away team Pohjanpal), one from our country (the much-praised Schick) and Baumgartlinger went to represent Austria.

Except for the latter, the EURO was a great success for all. The Finns were reaching for promotion in the last game thanks to the great performances of two Leverkusen players.

Pohjanpalo scored two goals in three games. One was disallowed due to a close offside. Hradecky, on the other hand, was successful in preventing goals. In three games, he only conceded three goals. Against Denmark, he also kept a clean sheet after a penalty.

It is probably not even necessary to write about Patrik Schick’s brilliant performance. His performances in Leverkusen should finally earn him the confidence he has been lacking in the Bundesliga due to his inconsistent performances.

Euro ends, business begins

The management of the German team has been dragging its feet for a long time with the new faces. Even with three winter transfers, it looked for a while as if the squad for the new season would remain unchanged. However, the opposite is true, with two new signings announced in the last week.

The first name is not very sound, all the more necessary. Zenit St. Petersburg goalkeeper Andrey Lunev has signed a two-year contract in Leverkusen for free. The absence of a proper number two was especially evident last season.

The young Grill obviously still has a lot to learn, so Niklas Lomb was given space between the three sticks after Hradecky’s injury, with a market value of just a quarter of a million euros. He practically cost Peter Bosz a place on the bench with his mistakes.

Moreover, the Russian goalkeeper bids farewell to Zenit after winning three titles in a row. In those three seasons, he has kept 23 clean sheets in the league. He has played 60 league games.

An even bigger name was announced on Monday. Leverkusen did great business again, signing PSG starting lineup member Mitchel Bakker for just €7 million.

This makes the 21-year-old left back the second Dutchman to join the club after Sinkgraven, who grew up in the Ajax academy. He played 26 league games last season, in which he notched two assists. He then struck in 10 games in the Champions League.

The squad currently includes three left-backs. Due to injury bad luck, it is possible that the club will keep both Wendell and Sinkgraven. However, one of them is likely to leave BayArena this year and it looks more likely to be the older and long-term weaker Wendell.

Schick will return to two strikers under the new coach

The management decided to experiment a bit in the selection of a new coach and sign Young Boys Bern coach, promoting a 4-4-2 formation, Gerard Seoane. This formation was last practiced by the Red and Black in the 15/16 and 16/17 seasons.

Seoane thus came into the team with six quality central midfielders and only two strikers apparently practicing the 4-4-2 formation. However, none of the midfielders are packing their bags, neither are returnee Pohjanpalo and academy striker Emrehan Gedikli.

However, speculation about the arrival of another striker Sargent from Bremen suggests that we will see Schick in the attacking pair in the coming season.

Seoane has had three very successful years in Switzerland. He won the league in all of them, and added the Swiss Cup once. Last season, he also scored the scalp of Leverkusen in the Europa League, virtually ending the reign of his predecessor.

The 4-4-2 formation brought the Young Boys a league campaign last season with only one loss. In the 18/19 and 19/20 seasons, the Swiss coach also practiced formations with one striker. However, the current lineup still dominated. Moreover, those two seasons were not as dominant in the league as this one.

Leverkusen back in stripes, new jersey set unveiled

On top of the two successful transfers this week, the management made the fans happy with one more piece. Namely, it presented new jerseys. For the first time since 2006, they will once again feature vertical red and black stripes.

The away kit is yet to be unveiled, but the home kit has already satisfied a lot of fans. They can remember, for example, the memorable tenure of Michal Ballack, who finished second in the Bundesliga with his teammates in the 2001/02 season. The title race was decided by a single point.

Star Tapsoba misses season opener due to injury

Currently the Werkself’s second most valuable player Edmond Tapsoba will miss the season opener. And that’s a bigger problem than it might seem. The stopper, who was supposed to be of interest to Arsenal this season, was in fact supposed to form an unwavering stopper duo together with Tah after the departure of Dragovic and the end of Sven Bender’s career.

However, someone will have to replace him at the start of the season. Potential options are Restos, Jedvaj and possibly newcomer Bakker.

The former has only been on loan in recent years and has only played 4 games in Ligue 1 this season. Jedvaj is a pure righty, like Tah, which wouldn’t do any good.

Bakker, on the other hand, is the only one who is not a stopper. He has played 14 games in that position in his career. In his last season at PSG, he played one game in an improvised position. But in terms of height, he’s not losing out to any of his competitors.

In addition, Jonathan Tah retained his two-match ban from last season in the German Cup, which Leverkusen will open the season with. It is therefore possible that another stopper will need to be brought in.

Others on the injury list are Fosu Mensah and Lucas Alario. Daley Sinkgraven recently returned from injury.

Sources used: Transfermarkt, Bayer 04 Leverkusen