“Strong foundation” at Bayer
“It’s not an issue for me at the moment to think about another club. Everyone knows my contract situation,” said Patrik Schick (26), who was tied to Bayer Leverkusen until June 2025, at the beginning of January when asked about a possible change. If Erling Haaland (21) leaves, the attacker is traded as a candidate for the successor in the storm of Borussia Dortmund. Coach Gerardo Seoane is already advising his protégé against a transfer to BVB.
“Of course, with our work here in Leverkusen we want to ensure that the players do not consider moving to a direct league competitor like Dortmund,” said the 43-year-old in “Sport Bild”. “And I think that Patrik Schick would think twice about leaving us for BVB. I don’t see that as a big next step for him.”
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In the table, Borussia is in second place, eight points ahead of the “Werkself”. After 34 matchdays, Bayer only finished better than Dortmund in the 2014/15 season in the last ten years – back then Roger Schmidt was fourth, while the black and yellow were only seventh last year under Jürgen Klopp.
According to Seoane, Leverkusen are not far from their neighbors in the table. “We have a strong foundation with very good players. Now let’s take the next step together. Everyone senses that something is developing here and that we want to further strengthen the team,” enthuses the Swiss. He sees the statements by sports director Simon Rolfes that neither Schick nor Florian Wirtz are to be sold this year as “a very positive signal for all of us here.”
Bayer 04: Wirtz & Schick should stay – first summer without a sale since 2016?
Should Bayer 04 be able to keep their stars for a longer period of time, that would actually be a rarity in the club’s recent history. Every year since 2017, a top performer has left the club for millions: from Hakan Calhanoglu (2017/18) to Bernd Leno (2018/19) to Julian Brandt (2019/20) and most recently Kai Havertz (2020/21) as well Leon Bailey (2021/22).
With Bailey, Havertz & Co.: Bayer Leverkusen’s most expensive sales
Schick is also unlikely to end his career in Leverkusen with the current development. The Czech, who is currently the second best scorer in the Bundesliga with 18 goals, has increased his market value from 28 to 40 million euros since the start of the season. Still, Seoane knows the arguments the club has on his side. “A player has to recognize that I’m in the right place here in terms of sport, I have great teammates, a good team, we play football that suits me – and here I can develop so well that at some point I can too to be able to go to one of the top 8 clubs in Europe.”
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