Bayer Leverkusen will try to start building a new era after the departure of many important players and 2024 domestic double-winning coach, Xabi Alonso, in the Close season, said the new boss Erik ten Hag on Friday.
Ten Hag took over in the midst of a squadevision with more than half a dozen important players who had left, including star player Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, who both came to Liverpool, and midfielder Granit Xhaka.
Leverkusen starts on Saturday with a home game against Hoffenheim, in Ten Hag’s second competitive match after last week’s German Cup victory on the lower League Sonnenhof Grossaspach.
«We have done everything we can to be optimally prepared,» Ten Hag told a press conference. «It has a lot to do with the team spirit. In the dressing room the players grow together.»
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«Many players have remained and they bring a specific culture. That will continue to exist. The new players have understood the club culture. I have had a great overhaul in the past. That is the challenge.»
«It’s good because it is necessary. An era comes to an end at some point, and this happened here, and we are now starting to build a new era, and we all work very hard on it,» he said.
Ten Hag knows that he has cut out his work as the successor to Alonso, where the Spaniard led the club to the Interior competition and cup double without a single defeat in the 2023-24 season.
«We also have young players, but also experienced. I think the mix is good,» said Ten Hag.
Published on August 22, 2025
