Football Season Guide

Bayer Leverkusen were the only club to inflict a domestic defeat on a record breaking Bayern Munchen side last season and at one time had emerged as the closest challengers to the Bundesliga crown. However a drop in form following the winter break saw Bayer slip down to third though a late revival saw them almost pip Borussia Dortmund to the second place. Hard work starts now for coach Sami Hyypia with the Finn in sole charge of the club after Sascha Lewandowski demoted himself to take over the youth academy. Hyypia has been busy in the transfer market, with Leverkusen welcoming nine new players while there have been ten departures. Andre Schurrle completed his move to Chelsea for more than £19 million while Real Madrid activated their buy-back clause to purchase Daniel Carvajal. Michal Kadlec was sold to Fenerbahce while Manuel Friedrich and Daniel Schwaab were both released by the club along with Michael Rensing. Christoph Kramer and Junior Fernandes have been sent on loan while Hajime Hosogai has been sold to Hertha Berlin. Heung-Min Son has been signed from Hamburger SV to replace Schurrle while Andres Palop will act as back-up for Bernd Leno in the goal. Giulio Donati will be replacing Carvajal on the right side of the defense while Robbie Kruse will be competing with Sidney Sam and Gonzalo Castro for a place on the flanks. Hyypia has also signed Sevilla defender Emir Spahic though Philipp Wollscheid and Omer Toprak are expected to remain the first choice defensive pairing while Emre Can completed his move from Bayern. Hyypia also confirmed that Bayer are still in the hunt for a striker with Arkadiusz Milik yet to establish himself as an effective back-up for Stefan Kiessling.