Football Season Guide

Bayer Leverkusen paid the price for a poor start to last season though the arrival of Xabi Alonso midway through the campaign was one of the bright spots for the club who recovered enough to secure a top six finish. Bayer placed some attractive football under Alonso and the coach will be looking for more of the same this season as well, though with more consistency which proved to be an issue especially in the final weeks of the campaign. Bayer have been busy in the transfer window though their purchases have largely been funded by the departure of Moussa Diaby who was their key attacking threat last season. Mitchel Bakker and Kerem Demirbay have also been moved on to bring in a decent chunk of money while Paulinho, Sinkgraven, Bellarabi and Lunev have all left on free transfers. Their biggest outlay so far has been on Victor Boniface and the Nigerian will act as a focal point in the attack, something Bayer missed last season. The big name arrival though is that of Granit Xhaka after the midfielder completed his move from Arsenal and will provide some much needed steel in the center of the midfield. Jonas Hofmann has been signed as a replacement for Diaby while Arthur and Alejandro Grimaldo will provide competition in the fullback spots. Bayer showed a lot of promise under Alonso last season but the coach will be a bit concerned with their late season slump, something which they need to avoid if they are to improve on their sixth placed finish from last season.