Football Season Guide

Bayer Leverkusen needed a late rescue act by Sascha Lewandowski to meet their minimum requirement of Champions League football and the fans will be hopeful for a far more comfortable outing under new coach Roger Schmidt this season. With Sami Hyypia taking over the sole responsibility of the first team after Lewandowski opted to drop back to the youth team, Bayer had started the season brilliantly and by the winter break had emerged as the closest challenger to Bayern Munchen and at one time enjoyed a seven-point lead over eventual runners-up Borussia Dortmund. However an alarming drop in form put their Champions League qualification in doubt, with the club finally deciding to part ways with Hyypia and Lewandowski was drafted in as an emergency stop gap to ensure that they finished in the top four. The club had already announced before the season ended that Schmidt would be taking over on a permanent basis at the start of the season and the former Red Bull Salzburg has been busy boosting his side in the summer. Schmidt has been quick to clear the deadwood with Andrés Guardado and Eren Derdiyok returning back to their clubs after the end of their loan spells while Danny da Costa, Jens Hegeler and Junior Fernandes have also left the club. Sidney Sam had already agreed a move to Schalke at the end of the last season while Emre Can was reluctantly sold to Liverpool after the English side triggered a transfer clause. One major complaint against Leverkusen last season was the lack of options beyond the starting 11 and Schmidt has tried to address the problem by bringing in a number of quality players. Dario Kresic was signed on a free transfer to act as back-up to Bernd Leno though the biggest acquisition will be the signing of Hakan Calhanoglu from Hamburger SV. Calhanoglu will be a straight replacement for Sam and will link up with Stefan Kiessling and Heung-Min Son upfront. The midfield spine of Lars Bender, Gonzalo Castro and Simon Rolfes remains intact while Josip Drmic has been signed to provide some much needed competition for Kiessling. Julian Brandt is expected to be given more chances to blossom after impressing under Lewandowski. Schmidt has also improved his defense, with Wendell completing his move from Brazilian side Gremio while Tin Jedvaj and Kyriakos Papadopoulos have been signed on loan from AS Roma and Schalke respectively. Despite an all round improvement to the squad, Leverkusen are still not quite at the same level as Bayern and Dortmund and a third place finish seems to be the most likely prospect for Schmidt's side