What is there left for Bayer Leverkusen to achieve? Putting that question to sporting director Simon Rolfes on a recent visit to the Bundesliga champions, his answer is a surprising one. He talks not of more glory but of developing the academy.
“We only have two players at the moment in our squad from the academy,” Rolfes tells Sky Sports. One of those is Florian Wirtz, who spent much of his development at FC Koln. The other is back-up goalkeeper Niklas Lomb who is now 31 years old.
“To have the same level we have now, but with five, six, seven, eight or nine players from the academy, would be fantastic,” adds Rolfes. “I think that would also give this club another boost in terms of development and our identity. It is a long-term project.”
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Watch a selection of Bayer Leverkusen’s best late goals on their remarkable run
He continues: “We are making big steps in the academy with a lot more national team players. Five years ago, there were maybe two or three, now it is almost 20. We are improving but we have to prove we are able to develop them. It is still a big challenge.”
Speaking to chief executive Fernando Carro, he expressed much the same sentiment, underlining the fact that this is not a flight of fancy by Rolfes but an issue central to Leverkusen’s thinking as they look to build on their surprise title triumph.
“One very critical and important thing for us is to strengthen our academy,” says Carro. “We have to be more successful in getting academy players to the first team. But of course because of the higher level of our first team it is always more and more difficult.”
So, how do Leverkusen do it? The man tasked with delivering the change his bosses demand is Jefta Bresser, the academy director. The affable Dutchman is unconcerned. “I can deal with the pressure,” he tells Sky Sports. “If not, I am not the right man.”
Bresser only arrived at Leverkusen in October, by which time the first team were already on their astonishing run to glory. We are speaking after watching the U19 side come from behind to win 4-3 late on. “I do not know what is wrong with this club,” he jokes.
But coming at it with fresh eyes might allow him to have the answers Leverkusen are looking for. Bresser points to research that shows Germany produces less than one professional per million inhabitants. In Portugal and the Netherlands, it is nearly five.
“England is between two or three per million. That statistic can only mean two things. Either there is no talent in Germany or we are not developing them properly. And I think it must be the latter because football is also the number one sport in Germany.”
Bresser already has ideas. An obvious change was to improve the selection process. “We had close to 80 per cent of our boys from 12 to 19 born in the first six months.” This was a worrying bias based on relative-age effect. They were missing the late developers.
Symbolically, Bresser moved the head coach of the U19s to a new role educating the coaches of the eight-to-15 age-groups. It sent a message about what was important. “Developing coaches helps to develop players. It all starts with quality coaching.”
Bresser’s own background was as a technical coach at Fulham under Martin Jol and then under Andre Villas-Boas and Luciano Spalletti at Zenit Saint Petersburg. He has never lost sight of the importance of one-on-one work in helping to develop players.
“People forget how important this individual attention is, even at first-team level. It is not always about specific exercises. It is about that attention from the coach. That brings confidence, that brings good feeling and that contributes to performance.”
Another significant change planned is to dramatically increase the number of academy players. “I am looking at the models of Benfica and PSV. I would like to bring more kids into the academy at a younger age so there is a bigger foundation, a wider pyramid.”
Bresser’s ambition is to have “more or less double teams” for each age group. Not with a view to releasing more of them but offering greater guarantees instead. “I do not like to deselect players too early.” From this season, the U11 boys team receive a promise.
“We promise them they can stay with us from fifth grade in school till the tenth grade in school. So they are not only in our schools for a good amount of years, but also in our football academy. I think that is a powerful thing. And that is what we are going to do.”
That security helps the players. “There is still that vulnerable period for them when they start having Osgood-Schlatter disease and the growing pains and so on. But now they will not be so stressed that they have to leave the club every year. That is a big thing.”
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Bayer Leverkusen won the German Supercup after beating Stuttgart on penalties
He also hopes that it encourages the coaches to focus on individual development rather than team success. “The coaches need to feel comfortable and not feel the pressure of winning games. Sometimes we will lose games. It is no problem at all.”
Bresser explains: “Our individual approach combined with the fact that we commit longer to the kids’ development can be the difference for us, a more holistic approach. We cannot be thinking about always finding that bigger, stronger kid next door.”
There will still be the opportunity to add talented players to the academy as the older age groups require more players on each side. “There is always room to bring in new kids. But they need to be top five. If they are just like the rest, they are not coming.”
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Bresser wants to get the base right first but that final step from academy graduate to first-team football remains the biggest leap. Carro is exploring options, whether that is a strategic relationship with a club in Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria or elsewhere.
“We do not have what other clubs have, perhaps competitors with multi-club ownership have, where there is a second team,” explains Carro. “This is something that we have to look at. At the moment, we are analysing it and we will have to discuss the strategy.”
Bresser admits that the jump from academy to Champions League is “way too big” for most young players. “In football, we tend to focus on the exceptions. Florian Wirtz was ready at 17 but he is the exception. Most of the boys are ready when they are 21 or 22.
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“To be honest, have to have some solutions. As mentioned, do we need a second team? Do we need partner clubs or assistant clubs? “We have a very talented group born in 2007. That means in one year we need the solution for the next steps for these boys.”
But the message from Leverkusen, who are looking at a completely new training ground before the end of the decade, is that the search for those solutions is on. Finding a way to sustain that success is the next challenge and the academy is a way of doing that.
“Maybe it is a dream but I absolutely want Leverkusen to be among the top three academies in Germany,” says Bresser. “I want Europe to speak about our academy.” Hard to imagine? So was the Bundesliga title. In Leverkusen, dreams can come true.
