Erik ten Hag insisted on his new Bayer Leverkusen side to start building a new era in the club after a busy summer that players have seen and going.
Ten Hag takes the lead for his second competitive match since the replacement of Xabi Alonso near Leverkusen when they enter into their Bundesliga -opener on Saturday against Hoffenheim.
The Dutchman supervised a comfortable 4-0 triumph over Grossaspach in the DFB Pokal, although Leverkusen has experienced a revision of their 2024-25 team.
Leverkusen have seen Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong accompany at Liverpool, while Granit Xhaka and Jonathan Tah moved to Sunderland and Bayern Munich respectively.
Ten Hag has welcomed 14 new faces in his ranks, with Leverkusen with the aim of winning back the Bundesliga crown that they lost with Bayern with Bayern last season.
“We did everything we can to be optimally prepared,” Ten Hag told a press conference. “It has a lot to do with the team spirit. In the dressing room the players grow together.
“Many players have remained and they bring a specific culture. That will continue to exist. The new players have understood the club culture. I have had a great overhaul in the past.
“That is the challenge. It's good because it needed it.
“A era is coming off at some point and this happened here and we are now starting to build a new era and we all work very hard on it.”
MT10 in team training! pic.twitter.com/g5lht1ucog
– Bayer 04 Leverkusen (@Bayer04_en) August 21, 2025
The summer company of Leverkusen was head of the arrival of Malik Tillman from PSV Eindhoven in a deal of € 35 million, which is a record compensation for the joint club for the Bundesliga side.
Jarell Quansah, Loic Bade and Ernest Poku have also become a member of the club, while Leverkusen also completed a loan movement for Claudio Echeverri from Manchester City.
Tillman made 34 performances in all competitions for PSV in 2024-25, scored 16 goals and registered five assists to help his team cancel the Eredivisie title.
Only Johan Bakayoko (47) completed more dribbles in the Dutch top flight for PSV Dan Tillman (42), while also creating 41 chances, the highest total in the team in the team.
Tillman ended his time at PSV and had won 85.2% of his matches in the Eredivisie (W46 D4 L4), the highest profit rate of each player with 50+ matches in the competition.
And the American looks forward to getting started in Germany and say: “My excitement in the season was huge when I saw and wore the sweater for the first time.
“I look forward to being able to finally play here in the stadium. So far I feel very good and happy here in Leverkusen.”
Players to watch
Bayer Leverkusen – Patrick Schick
Patrik Schick surpassed his expected goals (XG) with 8.3 goals (21 goals at 12.7 xg), the best difference in Europe's five major competitions. In those competitions, only Alexander Sorloth from Atletico Madrid had a lower minutes per goal (78) than Patrik Schick (80).
The striker also scored his joint goals against Hoffenheim (six, the same as against Freiburg) in the top flight.
Hoffenheim – Andrej Kramaric
Andrej Kramaric was the biggest attacking threat of Hoffenheim last season and registered 11 goals and nine assists in 32 Bundesliga matches.
He comes in the new season in Fine Form and scores four goals in two world cup qualifications for Croatia and also offers an assist in Hoffenheim's 4-0 DFB Pokal victory on Rostock.
Match forecast – Bayer Leverkusen Win
Leverkusen won their first game of the season in each of the last two Bundesliga campaigns. Now the work itself could achieve this for the first time from 2013 to 2015 in three consecutive seasons. On match day 1 of the 2015-16 season, Leverkusen won their third game in this run at home against Hoffenheim.
Leverkusen -Coach Ten Hag is about to manage his first Bundesliga game as a coach, and Hoffenheim should expect a very direct approach. During his term of office at Manchester United, the Red Devils registered the most direct attacks in the competition (222, an average of 2.6 per match) and also scored the most goals via this method (15, the same as Liverpool).
Leverkusen, however, are Winloos in their last three Bundesliga competitions (D2, L1). The last time they went in a row without a victory between April and May 2023 (five).
Hoffenheim is also without a victory in five Bundesliga competitions (D2, L3) and only Borussia Monchengladbach under the current Bundesliga teams have gone longer without winning a victory (seven).
Hoffenheim has endured them in the second worst Bundesliga season in 2024-25 with 32 points, but won less in 2012-13 (31). Their 15th place was also their lowest Top-Flight Finish in nine years (2015-16, also 15th).
Opta wins probability
Bayer Leverkusen – 59.9%
Drawing – 20.1%
Hoffenheim – 20.0%