RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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Bayer Leverkusen 2026/27 season preview: Transfers, pre-season, predicted lineup and predictions
Maintaining the unprecedented highs of success set by Xabi Alonso was always going to be tricky, but nobody at Bayer Leverkusen could have foreseen how it unfolded. With Erik Ten Hag sacked after just two league games in charge, it set the tone for what would be a turbulent and uncomfortable 2025-26 season.
The Rhineland club acted quickly and choose to appoint Kasper Hjulmand who filled the void. Despite being unable to impart his tactics on the squad in pre-season, the Dane made a bright start to his rein with seven wins from his first nine games. Thereafter, things started to unravel.
Costly defeats and losing their grip on a prized Champions League berth in the final two matchday’s effectively sealed Hjulmand’s fate. With a desire for stability, Leverkusen’s chiefs decided that a change at the helm would be needed, thus parting ways with the 54-year-old after a sixth-place finish.
Pre-Season preparations
With several components of their squad at the 2026 World Cup, Leverkusen partially regrouped for pre-season on 14 July. Players were met by a new face in coach Carles Martinez. The Spaniard, arriving from Girona, said he was keen to bring his intense and passionate style of football to the BayArena.
With routine wins over Sportfreunde Baumberg (7-0) and Kickers Offenbach (3-1), Leverkusen faced a sterner task in KRC Genk. The Belgian Pro League side were brushed aside 4-0, with further impressive displays from summer signing Afonso Moreira alongside Nathan Tella and Christian Kofane.
A domestic training camp in Blankenhain, Thuringia, from 1 to 7 August followed, where wins over Rot-Weiss Essen (3-0) and Sevilla (2-1) built on their body of work. A sole 2-1 defeat to Nottingham Forest preceded a 2-1 win over Newcastle United, with Patrik Schick and Ibrahim Maza starring after their return to the squad.
Transfers
It’s been a busy summer on the transfers front for Leverkusen with several high-profile departures. Alejandro Grimaldo (€22m) has joined Atletico Madrid, with €32m reeled in from Kerim Alajbegovic’s switch to Juventus. Arsenal and PSV both chose to make the loans of Piero Hincapie and Matej Kovar permanent for a combined €45million.
A like-for-like replacement for talisman Grimaldo has come in the form of Miguel Gutierrez from Napoli for €26m. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Afonso Moreira (€29.5m) has hit the ground running since joining from Olympique Lyon to bolster the Rhinelanders’ attacking options.
Facundo Medina provides further defensive versatility, costing €23million from Olympique Marseille. Leverkusen also secured one of German football’s rising stars in Kennet Eichhorn (€9m) from Hertha BSC. Sadly, a metabolic disorder has since sidelined the 16-year-old indefinitely but watch this space when he returns.
Predicted starting lineup
Having predominantly oriented his team around a 4-3-3 for much of pre-season, Carles Martinez ought to back Mark Flekken in goals with his compatriots Vazquez and Gutierrez as full-backs. Edmond Tapsoba will likely pair up with Facundo Medina, while Jarell Quansah could vouch for a spot at their right-back or centre-back.
Depending on a potential exit, Palacios and Fernandez will likely vie for a midfield berth alongside Aleix Garcia and Malik Tillman. In attack, Maza and Moreira should flank Patrik Schick. However, the likes of Nathan Tella, Ernest Poku and Christian Kofane will be pushing to oust any of the slated front three.
Predicted lineup (4-3-3): Flekken – Vazquez, Medina, Tapsoba, Gutierrez – Palacios, Tillman, Garcia – Maza, Schick, Moreira
Predictions for the upcoming season
It’s been a case of so far, so good for Leverkusen under Carles Martinez in pre-season which bodes well for the 2026-27 campaign. A free-scoring nature coupled with reasonable defensive solidity and new signings fitting in suggests it could be a return to consistency – a wavelength greatly desired by the club’s bosses.
Coupled with Europa League football, while the turnaround between games is tighter, opposition should be comparatively lower than the Champions League. Competition for Germany’s top four should be ferocious, therefore it seems Leverkusen will finish somewhere between an optimal 4th-place and worst-case 8th-place come late May.
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