The future of both Lukas Hradecky and Matej Kovar at Bayer Leverkusen up in the air | OneFootball

Bild reports that the future of both Bayer Leverkusen’s goalkeepers, Lukas Hradecky and Matej Kovar, are up in the air heading into the summer.

There is no doubt that Hradecky is Leverkusen’s number one, the Finnish international is the club’s captain and played a key role in their title win last season. However, he is 35 and with his contract expiring next summer, succession planning needs to begin. It is expected that once Hradecky retires, he will take up a role at the club.

Previously, Matej Kovar has been seen as Hradecky’s replacement. Earlier this season, head coach Xabi Alonso rotated between the two but the Czech struggled. In recent weeks, Alonso has trusted Kovar more and he has played important games in the Champions League and DFB Pokal, but there have still been some wobbles in his performance.

To improve, Kovar needs more game time, but it needs to be decided whether he is good enough to replace Hradecky when he eventually retires. What is certain is that Kovar will not go into next season as the backup, he will either leave or be promoted to number one. Due to the 24-year-old finding his form, the indication is that he will play for Die Werkself next season.

Leverkusen had been linked with now Bayern Munich goalkeeper Jonas Urbig when he was at 1.FC Köln but were not convinced by the 21-year-old.

Reports in Spain suggest that Leverkusen are looking for a replacement. Die Werkself are said to be interested in Espanyol goalkeeper Joan García. The defending Bundesliga champions offer a much better prospect to first team football than Arsenal, who are also interested. García’s contract at Espaynol is valid until 2028 and he has a release clause worth €25m but could rise to €30m if he is called up to the Spanish national team.

GGFN | Jack Meenan