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THE 5 games and transfer window updates

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Ten points in 5 games seemed impossible, but now it's 7 points in 4 games! A fantastic performance from the team with our 4-1-2-3 DM wide formation as they seem to really start to get it. The bad news are that Bellarabi is now injured for quite a while at a very crucial time but I'm confident with the players I currently have that we can do a good job and get those 7 points in 4 games! Will I keep my job at Leverkusen now? You're about to see!

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Well, now we need 7 points from 3 games. It's looking a lot harder after this defeat, especially considering the way in which we lost it. We were 2-0 up and absolutely dominating the game but completely crumbled just 2 minutes after our 2nd goal and conceded 2 before halftime and 2 after halftime. Really disappointing. The 4-1-2-3 DM wide was completely exposed and I've now switched to a 4-2-3-1 wide for the last 3 games to boost our chances of a result because we need to score more goals and not concede as many (sounding like Michael Owen there) to win those next few games and reach our points target.

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Another hiccup after the formation change but I'll absolutely take a point against Hoffenheim, especially after one of our main players got sent off just before halftime. The stats look fairly even and honestly, we did a very good job to hold on and get at least a point from this game. This however, means that we have to win the next 2 games against Augsburg and Frankfurt and that is not going to be easy at all. I'm confident the lads can do it, but it's now coming to a point where I really do feel like this might be it, this might be my last game in charge of Leverkusen. I've got 2 games to prove I'm good enough for this club now, so let's do it!

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So in other news, I convinced Lars to sign a new contract which is great for the club and gives out a more positive atmosphere around the club so I'm really glad about that. On top of that, with the leftover money we had from the summer transfer window, we managed to sign Andre Gomes! He's a massive signing and what a complete midfielder he is! Much like Dendoncker, he's tall, he's strong and he's really well rounded and it'll provide us with a huge boost for those next 2 games where we need 2 wins. Let's hope for the best now!

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Yes lads! Three points in the bag! That's now 7 points from the last 4 games so we just need a win against Frankfurt and I'll be safe! Thank God for Bailey and Volland, who made it 4-2 before halftime and despite getting a man sent off in the 88th minute and conceding a goal in the second half, we once again managed to hold on and grab the 3 points which is HUGE for the club and for me personally. Now, we just need to beat Frankfurt. Easier said than done though... It seems this 4-2-3-1 wide formation change has really paid off so far so will that continue in the Frankfurt game? I sure as **** hope so. Oh also, Andre Gomes made his debut. He did alright, definitely could've done better, but he's showed glimpses of genius in his play and I think he'll become a really important player for us.

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YES!!! WE'VE DONE IT!!! It sounds like I'm celebrating not getting relegated with a very weak team but no, it just means I'm keeping my job! Once again we slacked off towards the end of the game and almost ended up drawing the game instead of winning it, but no result other than a Leverkusen victory would've been unfair. Volland is once again a hero for us and Andre Gomes came up big with a goal during his second game at the club. I'm so happy right now, we've done it. I never thought we'd be able to reach 10 points in 4 games but we did it and that's just incredible. However, the hard(er) work begins now. The next few games for the rest of January and February are absolutely huge and we can't afford to drop more points in these now either. Will I manage to keep my job until the end of the season? Hopefully!

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So we might go down to 10th after Köln's, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg's games in hand but that's still better than 15th and relegation zone spots so I'm incredibly happy. I still can't believe we managed to get 10 points in 5 games and I survived and kept my job. It's a dream come true and I really hope now that I can just keep this going and get Leverkusen back in European spots for next season. We have a tough month ahead of us though:

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Schalke, Bayern, Hamburg, Hannover and Stuttgart. We can definitely beat Hannover and Hamburg if we work hard enough and maybe even Stuttgart but the Schalke and Bayern games are going to be really tough. Bayern is away so that makes it even worse but we want and need revenge from those humiliating defeats we suffered earlier in the season. We're in better form now and on the way up, so I don't see why we can't do a much better job against them this time around!

Up next, the February fixtures!
 
After reading the opening month i thought you'd be flying, couple of struggling months, good to see you kept your job, lets hope its a sign of things improving!
 
After reading the opening month i thought you'd be flying, couple of struggling months, good to see you kept your job, lets hope its a sign of things improving!
Cheers mate, definitely feel like I've found the right formation and tactic for this team now, hopefully will get a couple of good results now and put us back where we belong in the CL spots!
 
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Late January + February results and transfer window updates

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A good signing for the feature, my scouts have guaranteed me that he can turn into a huge player if he's looked after and given the right training. We're not necessarily in need of a centre-back but I'll take him, especially if it means he becomes either a legend at the club or we can just make some huge profit on him in the future.

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Our last game of January in what was a chaotic month which could've seen me lose my job, we won against Stuttgart. We were lucky enough that they got a red card in the 68th minute which allowed to get forward a lot more and score the winner in the 79th minute, courtesy of Kevin Volland who's really turned up in the last few months for this club and it's amazing to see. Our defence played fantastically well too but we definitely came up short in attack and that'll need improving!

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So just when the board decides I can keep my job, the players come in and tell me I need to leave? Jesus... I managed to convince them that I'm working hard to create a better atmosphere around the club now but I just hope these kind of issues don't pop up every now and then like they are right now because it's just very disruptive and not encouraging at all, especially after the great run we went on.

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Let me just explain this signing since it might seem like a really odd one. We didn't have a proper replacement right-back for the team and Wendell, on top of his recent injuries, could potentially leave. Since Henrichs can play left-back, we needed a proper right back to replace him and as Jung was transfer-listed, it seemed like the perfect deal for us and for Wolfsburg. He'll probably be a bench player for now but could really come in handy later this season.

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Ramalho hasn't been used pretty much all season and has just not given me a reason to play him at any point so instead of just letting him rot on the bench or in the reserves, wasting his time and making us pay his wages, why not just send him on loan. Frankfurt aren't direct rivals and anyways, I don't think he's good enough of a player to really cause us problems when we play against Frankfurt.

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I had no interest in keeping a 33-year old goalkeeper at the club who was never going to have an active role in the team and decided it was better to just get rid of him. The deal will make even more sense when you see our next signing though, who'll come in in July at the end of the season on a pre-contract agreement.

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So there we go, our new backup goalkeeper will be Pau López! The 23 year old is really promising and honestly looks like a great talent and with Özcan now gone, we currently have Lomb as our backup who just isn't good enough. I've been giving him a few games in goal here and there because he complained about his playing time but López will come in and be the backup now, with Lomb as 3rd choice.

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Well, we finally see the true colours of the Premier League and the Chinese League now that's for sure! For us, we signed 2 new players who will play a massive role in this second half of the season and 3 departures that free up some wages and allow us to focus on the players who are actually important in the team right now. The Bundesliga spent quite a bit too but it was mostly Bayern and Schalke, clearly looking to improve their squads and push for the title and not allow RB Leizpig to run away with it for their second season in the German top flight.

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What a result! After a couple of really hard few months, we've now finally found the right tactic. A 3-1 win against Schalke is a huge result especially considering we were a goal down at halftime and it was all thanks to Volland, who scored his 3rd, 4th and 5th goal in 2 games today. Honestly what a game. We dominated and absolutely deserved the win, let's hope we can now perform like that against Hamburg and Bayern and Hannover! Lomb made his debut too and looked decent but Leno is definitely a better keeper.

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Hugely disappointing result considering we were on such a good run and Hamburg are far down the table. A loss was coming for sure but it's a shame it had to come against a team like Hamburger. Lomb wasn't really at fault for any of the goals but you could tell he wasn't an experienced keeper. Henrichs and Tah were actually one of the main reasons why we lost this game and I'll definitely consider switching the starting lineup now.

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It's unfortunate to lose against Bayern but once again, it was expected. A 4-2 win for them was more than deserved as we never really did much to threaten them. It's 2 losses in a row now before our game against Hannover, so I really hope we can use the upcoming game to end that run and start winning matches again. My main worry was Dendoncker's injury, who it turns out will be out for about 2 to 3 weeks, which is a big blow but a lot better than it could've been for sure.

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Phew, we end the month on a win. Absolutely deserved for sure and we should've probably scored a couple more goals but I'll take the 3 points for sure. March is looking really tough for us but considering our form, I think we have a really solid chance of keeping that form up and potentially trying to qualify for the Champions League this season! Havertz scored his 3rd goal of the season at the best time and now I'm counting on him to come up big during these important games, despite him being so young.

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To think that towards the end of December we were down in 15th or so, almost in the relegation zone, and now we've turned it around and are sitting in 7th place is incredible. Being on 35 points, we're 4 points behind Schalke who are the last team who can qualify for the Champions League and that's where we want to be so we have to hope that they mess up and we get wins and leapfrog Hoffenheim and Werder Bremen AND Schalke to get there.

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Wolfsburg, Freiburg, Dortmund and Leipzig. Back in November, that was a month that treated us well considering how badly we were playing. I'm really confident we can get some great results against these teams but we're playing against one team right below us in Wolfsburg, a team down in 15th in Freiburg and two of the top 3 teams in the Bundesliga right now. Once again, it'll be tough but I think we found the right tactic to get some great results!

Up next, the March fixtures!
 
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March results

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What a devastating result... Just when I thought yeah perfect we're in great form, we go and lose again. Why does that keep happening? To be fair, Wolfsburg were really good in this game and absolutely deserved the win so I won't go and complain now. I've decided to switch our formation again to a 4-3-3 with 3 strikers and see if that helps at all because we're conceding a lot and not scoring. So we'll have one DM and 3 strikers and that should help both defensively and offensively.

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Phew, 3 points in the bag then. It was a very close game but definitely one we should be winning, which we did. I'm satisfied with the result but not the manner in which we got it, so we're really going to need to play much better in future matches (Dortmund and Leizpig) if we're going to get all 3 points in a more convincing way. Nevertheless, Volland is our hero again and we keep going up on the table. With just 8 games left in the season now, we're going to really have to push and perform well in these next few games.

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Well that's just great isn't it?! For a 3 striker formation we need 3 strikers and now one of them is out injured for 3 weeks. This means we're stuck with Kießling for the next 3 weeks now, which should be fine because he's an experienced striker who's done a lot for the club, but he's no Alario (despite him not scoring for quite a while now). However, we did win the Dortmund game 2-0, which is a huge result for us and gets us even closer to the Europa League now and soooo close to the Champions League!

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This is another amazing result for us considering Leipzig are the Bundesliga leaders at the amount and absolutely crushing it. We really did dominate and probably deserved at least a goal but I guess we can't always get what we want/deserve. That makes it 3 clean sheets in a row for us though which really does prove that my formation change helped us defensively. It kind of helped us offensively too because we scored some goals against much tougher opposition! We'll have to see how this form carries over in the last 6 games of the season now. The final push.

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So we're now in 6th place, just 2 points behind Hoffenheim who are in one of the Champions League spots. That's where we want to be by the end of the season for sure and considering we're playing them at some point in the next month and a half, it'll be a huge game for us. Volland is also the second top goalscorer in the league with 18 goals, just behind Werner who's on 20. We have a huge opportunity to turn our season around and get a couple of good results in our next 4 games against Gladbach, Köln, Hertha Berlin and Mainz and we need to take the maximum number of points from these games to try and get that 4th place. It would be a huge achievement given our horrendous first few months.

Up next, the April fixtures!
 
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April results

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We get April off to a fantastic start with a 2-0 win against a strong Gladbach side, who are somehow bottom of the league right now. Kießling, who I wasn't really excited to have play instead of Alario for the next couple of weeks, actually came up big and got us the 3 points in this match, which are absolutely crucial points for us in our chase for Champions League football.

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Our 4-3-3 formation is working wonders as we get a 1-0 win now against Köln, who were on an amazing run in the league and I was extremely worried about this match. A 1-0 win is definitely not a fair result as we should've probably scored about 4 or 5 goals but I won't complain, we get 3 points nonetheless and considering our rocky start to the season, it's just so amazing to be able to get so many points in the last few matches. Unfortunately, Alario got injured again right after coming back from his previous injury and Tah also had a bad injury but it turns out it isn't as bad as expected, which is good to hear. Alario will be out for another 2 to 3 weeks and Tah will be out for about the same amount of time, which is a big blow but I think we'll manage. Thank God for Sven Bender though!

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Hertha were another team who were way down on the table and we switched to a 4-2-3-1 for this game and the game against Mainz to just test another version of my 4-2-3-1 tactic and it worked really well! We've got 3 wins and 6 clean sheets in a row now which for the clean sheets is a new Leverkusen record and overall just shows how much we've improved over the course of this season and even the last 2-3 months. I'm so happy with how the team is performing now and I just hope we're going to keep this going for our last 3 games of the season.

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Finally we get some proper good news! After some absolutely amazing few games, we managed to get a new contract at the club! To think that we went from 15th in December to now top 7 and a new contract, I'm just so happy. It's an incredible feeling and to think that the club believes in me enough to offer me a 2 year contract is just so rewarding. I have an amazing vision for this club and some amazing targets that I'd want to bring in in the future and I'm just glad that the board believes I'm the right man for this club going forward.

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And just when I thought my month couldn't get any better, we get our fourth win in as many matches in April! With just 2 games left in the Bundesliga, we've now gone all the way into European football contention in the league and it's just crazy to think that we've made it this far with a group of players who didn't want to see me or hear from me for months! An amazing 3-2 win with crucial goals from Brandt and Havertz, the two wonderkids at the club who are seriously becoming better and better every game. What a month. Seriously what a month. We've got 2 games left now and we need to win them both as well to really end our season on a high.

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So there we are then. After 32 games and with 2 games left, we're in 4th place. The Champions League places. Exactly what we wanted all season. Our last 2 games are absolutely huge: Werder Bremen away who have been over performing massively this season so far, and Hoffenheim at home, in front of our fans, to end the season on a high. We've come from so far and I'm so proud of this team and now I just want to get into these last 2 games and get the rewarding feeling of an email from UEFA confirming that we're made it to the 2019 Champions League. We'll have to go through playoffs most probably but I seriously think we could do a good job then.

Up next, the last 2 games of the season and season review!
 
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The last 2 games of the season, season review and contract news

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Werder Bremen have been a great side all season and today was no different. They were very good today and despite us really dominating the match, I'm happy with at least a point against them. This keeps us just above Hoffenheim with a game left and coincidently that game is against them! However, a draw in our last game and a win for Schalke means we'd go down to 5th and lose out on Champions League football, which would be heartbreaking. Congratulations to Leipzig as well, who won the Bundesliga quite convincingly in the end, in the sense that they were just really good all season.

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We've made it!!! After a long, hard season which saw us go as low as 17th in the Bundesliga, we've made it to 4th place and qualified for next year's Champions League! What a year, I'm seriously so impressed and proud of this team, who stuck together despite not always agreeing with me and my tactics and just doing their job and managing to do it very well at the end of the day. With a 2-year contract and Champions League football, my future is looking bright here at Leverkusen and we're going to have an amazing year next season, I can just feel it!

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So there we are then, the end of 2017/18. We didn't do well in the DFB-Pokal and did awful at the beginning of the season up until the last maybe 10 games of the season but we managed to finish 4th. We have Champions League football and the fans are happy. Volland absolutely saved my job and this club big time and definitely is going to get a lot of interest from big European teams now. Dendoncker was the signing of the season and boy was that deserved. He was absolutely incredible and played at CM, at CB, at CDM. He played everywhere and did a good job in all these positions so just overall, what a player. I'm also happy with how Brandt did this season. Much like the rest of the team, he started off slow but ended up having a pretty good season. I'm really excited for next year now to see how we do and hopefully the board will really get behind me after such a great comeback.

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We have the 3rd best goalscorer of the season and I somehow managed to come second in both the Manager of the Year and Players' Manager of the Year award. I'm very honoured but it's all thanks to the players that I managed to do so well in the end. Volland though, absolutely deserves recognition. To get 20 goals for a team struggling up until almost February of this year is just incredible and he played a HUGE part in our comeback and Champions League football chase. Again, what a first season this turned out to be! Now, we've got a lot of contract news to get through!

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FIVE of our players sign new contracts... FIVE! And to think they all wanted to leave halfway through the season! Volland absolutely deserved a new contract and I got him one to also get any interest from other teams to die off. Dendoncker, we needed to get rid of his release clause from his previous contract and anyways he also definitely deserved a new contract. Now that we qualified for the Champions League, Wendell was happy to sign a new contract and he's a very decent left back so we got him to sign one. Bellarabi is wanted by Bayern but hopefully this new contract will also get them off our back and finally, Havertz has been such a huge player for us this season at such a young age that we just HAD to lock him down for as long as possible. What a first season this turned out to be! I'm so happy with the team we have, all the players and overall it's just all a great atmosphere. Now, I can't wait for my second season in charge and see what we can do!

Up next, chapter 2!
 
From losing the dressing room to second in the players best manager awards!

Good story mate keep it going
 
From losing the dressing room to second in the players best manager awards!

Good story mate keep it going
Cheers mate, really happy with how I managed to turn things around! Now hoping for some decent signings and an easy playoff match to get in the CL group stages!
 
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Pre-season results and transfer news

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So, welcome to chapter 2! Our first news are contract news. Brandt came to me and asked if he would be allowed to leave for Borussia Dortmund. Of course, I panicked. I pretended to be calm about it and asked him what we could do to keep him at the club a while longer and he asked for a new contract. So there's his new contract. It's a lot more money that he was earning before but it's definitely worth it. He's a fantastic player who's already really good and will only get better so let's hope we can keep him for a while!

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So our first signing for this summer is one we knew was coming anyway. Pau López is a fantastic backup goalkeeper to have who I think will do a great job here, much better than Lomb last season and will really provide quality depth to the team. My goal is also to get him to get some caps for the Spanish national team because he really does deserve it.

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Another exciting new signing cost us a little bit coming in at almost €7 million but he'll be worth it. He's got some terrific stats for his age and I'm actually considering giving him a few games during pre-season and also during cup games if possible. He has the potential to be a huge talent for us so let's see how he does in the future.

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Spittler's the same age as most of our exciting young prospects that we brought in in March last season but he looks just as good if not even better than them. It's always good to have young strikers come through and do a job for us and I'm certainly hoping that when he's old enough to be picked for a Bundesliga match, he does just that. The board gave me a total of €18 million to spend and so far we've only spent €7 million and brought in 3 players so we're looking good!

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Dragovic was on loan at Leicester last season and despite me wanting a better centre-back alternative than Sven Bender, Dragovic isn't the player I want. I have my eyes on one centre-back specifically to sign and form a defensive partnership with Tah or Dendoncker. We got a decent amount back on Dragovic too which was nice and gives us another €17 million to spend on arrivals now.

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Kohr didn't impress me last season when he played so in order to keep a good atmosphere at the club and not have him go to other players and complain, I'd rather just loan him out and see how he does at another Bundesliga club. Good luck to him!

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With Havertz being our only proper attacking midfielder, if he was to get injured, we didn't have a really good backup. When I saw that Wilshere got released by Arsenal, I jumped at the opportunity of signing him. He's only 26 and still has a lot of potential so signing him was a no-brainer for me. He'll fit right into the team and will give us some Champions League experience as well after a season without European football last year. As he's a bigger player than Havertz and uses up a lot more of our budget, he most likely will start the games but Havertz will still definitely get his game time considering how well he played for us last season.

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Another departure. This one doesn't get us a lot of money but frees up some wages which is good and realistically he was never going to play so we're getting rid of some deadwood now. Wilshere's arrival was for free so again, we're just building up our transfer budget for some nice players still for sure!

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An unfortunate departure... Aránguiz was one of the players who wasn't happy with me as a manager last season and when Barcelona came knocking, I couldn't convince him to stay. We get a very good amount of money for him so I'm happy about that and since we had Wilshere come in earlier this month it's not such a big deal but definitely disappointing to lose a player as good as Charles. At least our budget has now gone from €17.5 million to €36 million!

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So here's who we brought in with the Aránguiz money! Lucas Hernandez is a hugely talented player who will do wonders for us, I just know it. I wanted a centre-back to be able to play besides either Dendoncker or Tah and he's absolutely perfect for that. He's fast and strong and just great defensively and has the ability to become an incredible leader on the pitch and who knows maybe the club captain one day if he stays long enough! To think we managed to get him for just €16.5 million is crazy but I definitely won't complain. We're still left with about €19.5 million to spend now on new players but I might save a little bit for the winter transfer window if we need it.

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So here's our last signing of the transfer window! It's a HUGE one for the club seeing as he's one of the most promising midfielders in the world right now in my opinion and to see him at our club is just massive. For €9.75 million, we've definitely got a steal and I can't wait to see him play besides Volland and Brandt and Dendoncker. He's very versatile too and can play left-wing, attacking midfielder, centre-midfielder and right-wing too so should be amazing to have him in the side. I've also given myself about €10 million to spend for the January transfer window too so I'm happy about that. We ended up spending a total of €33 million and made €25 million so it's amazing!

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We had some tough games in pre-season, some that were going to test our abilities against stronger European opposition such as Fiorentina and Sporting but I have to say overall, it was a very positive pre-season. Alario really fired in the goals in those 6 games, scoring a total of 5 which is very decent. Our first official match of the season comes a little later in August in the DFB-Pokal before our Bundesliga opener and of course, later this month, the Champions League draw. I thought we needed to get through playoffs but it seems like we don't, or at least not for now? I'm not too sure what's going to happen now but we had a really positive pre-season and I'm confident it'll carry over in the official matches. Hopefully there won't be a repeat of last season when everything started going downhill in September!

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Stuttgart and Bayern to get our Bundesliga campaign started is huge but I think we can do a good job (hopefully). Then we have the Champions League and then another 3 tough Bundesliga games. I realised basically no games in the Bundesliga are easy games unless you're Leizpig or Bayern at this point. Let's be positive anyways and try to get as many points as possible early on to not repeat last season!

Up next, Champions League draw and the September fixtures!
 
Very enjoyable read this. Going to have a very dominant team on paper with Gomes, Dendoncker and Suarez.
 
Very enjoyable read this. Going to have a very dominant team on paper with Gomes, Dendoncker and Suarez.
Cheers mate. I definitely hope so! Bayern and Dortmund have absolutely ridiculous transfer budgets though (and Leipzig) and so far I've seen some of the signings they've made and they look like really incredible teams so we'll have to work even harder for this second season!
 
A very busy summer, hopefully the team won't take ages to gel, well done on getting that CL football!
 
A very busy summer, hopefully the team won't take ages to gel, well done on getting that CL football!
Cheers mate, very happy about it :) have been getting a lot of players in for sure but considering their quality, I'm sure it won't take time before the other players get behind them!
 
Wow!! This story is top class! Well Done
Cheers mate, love your guys' support so far! Motivates me to put out more updates :) I'm having issues with attachments today though and can't seem to upload pictures to my posts so it might be a day or two before the next update!
 
How has Tah been for you mate? I remember him being a good youngster to buy a few years back.

Keep up the good work!
 
How has Tah been for you mate? I remember him being a good youngster to buy a few years back.

Keep up the good work!
Cheers mate! He's been decent but as a "wonderkid", he's not been hugely impressive yet. To be fair, he was one of our good players last season and there weren't that many so overall I'd say he's been alright, got the potential to become a lot better though.
 
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