Football Season Guide

A late season slump saw Bayer Leverkusen miss out on their minimum aim of achieving Champions League football as they finished fifth in the league table while almost securing silverware at the end only to lose out to Bayern Munchen in the DFB Cup final. Much of Bayer's success last season could be attributed to Kai Havertz but the club will be heading into the new campaign without their best player from the last two seasons with Havertz since being sold to Chelsea. With Kevin Volland also leaving the club to Monaco, Bayer will need to rebuild their attack ahead of the new campaign. They have taken a step towards doing just that by completing a permanent move for Patrik Schick, who had been on loan at RB Leipzig, but he has been their only major arrival so far this season. They also had to deal with injuries at the back with Lars and Sven Bender both spending decent amounts of time on the treatment table, though, while Tin Jedvaj and Panagiotis Retsos have both returned back to the club following their loan spells and are expected to provide the depth. With Leon Bailey clearly not first choice under Peter Bosz, Bayer will need more bodies up front if they are to mount a sustainable challenge for a place in the top four next season.