Collapse by design? Bundesliga club overhauls for success | OneFootball

At Bayer Leverkusen, fans and experts are relatively in agreement ahead of today's season start of the Werkself against Hoffenheim: This could be a complicated season. Not because they don't trust Erik ten Hag - who didn't exactly cover himself in glory during his time at Manchester United - to follow up on Xabi Alonso's successes. But much more because almost nothing remains of the team with which Alonso was so successful.

The biggest loss is certainly Florian Wirtz, who went to Liverpool for over 130 million euros. With him, the decisive creative player is gone. Some Leverkusen fans might be reminded of the 2020/21 season when Kai Havertz was sold to Chelsea and the team ended up only sixth. And on top of that, Wirtz is not the only one who has left the club.

Jeremie Frimpong, Odilon Kossounou, Granit Xhaka, Lukas Hradecky, Amine Adli, and Jonathan Tah, key performers from the Alonso era, have also left the club. Is the team now falling apart?

📸 Stuart Franklin - 2024 Getty Images

If so, then according to plan. For all these players, the club collected far more than 200 million euros. And a look at the expenditures shows: They know how to reinvest the money quite well. According to 'transfermarkt.de', the club has already invested over 140 million euros - including in Malik Tillman, Jarell Quansah, Ibrahim Maza, Mark Flekken, Ernest Poku, Christian Kofane and most recently Claudio Echeverri or Loic Badé.

The millions in revenue thus flowed not only into the cash register but also back onto the pitch. And more players could follow, such as Claudio Echeverri or Loic Badé. It is clear: There is no one Wirtz successor or one new Tah. This time, the tasks are to be distributed among many shoulders. Every newcomer is relieved, no one is alone in the spotlight or under pressure to be the new superstar from the start.

Instead of relying on individual difference-makers, Leverkusen will focus more on the collective in the future. Fittingly, they have hired Erik ten Hag, a former Ajax coach who stands for team football. No league lives this idea as strongly as the Dutch one. And no league is as well known for talents. Both seem to have been checked by Leverkusen in their transfers. At 23, Malik Tillman is already one of the more experienced newcomers. But someone has to hold the young gang together after all.

Tillman is considered a quiet type who had to learn to become louder. "To assert yourself in football, you have to come out of your shell, become loud and elbow your way through," he told 'Bild' in the winter of 2024. He has worked intensively on this. This mix of restraint in everyday life and leadership qualities on the pitch makes him so valuable to Bayer.

The fact that Leverkusen is planning with him at the center is also shown by a report from 'kicker'. According to this, Tillman is expected to play against TSG Hoffenheim today - even though he missed the entire preparation. First, he was with the national team at the Gold Cup, then a calf injury set him back. It would be a risky cold start.

Next to him, more new faces could appear. Both Ibrahim Maza, who came from Berlin, and Ernest Poku have already collected minutes in the DFB Cup. Poku, like Tillman, came from the Eredivisie - but from Alkmaar - and contributed a scorer point in his first competitive match. In the 4:0 against Sonnenhof Aspach, four different scorers scored, three others assisted. One goal came from the spot. The Dutch handwriting is clearly recognizable. Not one scores or assists, but many.

Whether this is enough to compete for the Champions League places again remains to be seen. But one thing is clear: A new solo entertainer like Wirtz is not needed - if the collective works.

And the squad overhaul is far from over. Victor Boniface seems to be moving towards Serie A. At the same time, other names are circulating, including Quinten Timber from Feyenoord or Jonathan Clauss from Nice. They would also fit perfectly into the new profile. So the carousel continues to turn: Old faces leave, new talents arrive.

In 2020 it was Havertz, in 2025 Wirtz. Maybe in a few years, several big names will fall that no one has on their radar today. After all, Leverkusen has brought in enough candidates for that.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.

📸 Christof Koepsel - 2025 Getty Images