Bundesliga
Speaking for the first time as Bayer Leverkusen boss, Kasper Hjulmand explains he was an admirer of Xabi Alonso’s team, and hopes to build a winning Werkself side as soon as possible.
Former Mainz and Denmark manager Hjulmand is already Leverkusen’s second head coach of the season, following the quickfire appointment and dismissal of Erik ten Hag at the BayArena.
It is only three months on from Alonso’s move to Real Madrid, and a number of star players have followed him out the door, such as Florian Wirtz and Granit Xhaka, who joined Liverpool and Sunderland respectively this summer.
Some 17 players have been drafted in at Leverkusen, meanwhile, and Hjulmand is hopeful he can mold them into a winning unit soon.
“You don’t just press a button and it works like that. We are looking to make that work, and make it tick, so suddenly it will hopefully explode, and we don't know when, but up until that we will play good minutes,” he said.
“Let's just take the last couple of years. I think the influence of what we've seen, what happened with the work that Xabi and all the team and the players, the club did, I think that was a very good, successful football club, and I could recognise a lot of identity in the way they played.
Watch: Alonso’s Leverkusen had a hex over Bayern Munich
"When I saw them play, I felt it and so I think the progress was quite clear. It was not easy in the beginning, but creating a perfect season and winning the championship without a loss is incredible. Not only that, the way they expressed themselves on the pitch is something that I liked.”
Leverkusen are 12th at this early stage of the season with one point from their first two games, but there is plenty of time to turn things around, and obvious shoots of promise.
Patrik Schick already has three goals from three games across all competitions, and Álex Grimaldo, a fellow alumni of the undefeated Bundesliga title-winning team under Alonso in 2024, has two direct goal-involvements from left-back.
Add in the return of Malik Tillman – the flagship summer signing from PSV Eindhoven – from injury, as well as the recent addition of Real Madrid legend Lucas Vázquez, and Hjulmand is understandably excited about the squad he has to work with.
“The first thing we did was see what is here, how do we want to train? How do we want to play and with the quality that's in the staff, we start like this. I think it's great that we are diverse, that we have different backgrounds, but we have one thing in common. It's the way we want to play and train.
“It's also a new team that we have to build, and we will work night and day to get that, to get a very great staff, and then we'll see what happens from here. But I'm very happy with the people I've met also in the back office, and I think there's so much quality. So now we start, we start making a strong group actually be different.
Hjulmand’s Denmark got to the semi-finals of UEFA Euro 2020 despite the cardiac arrest suffered by Christian Eriksen – which he survived – in their opening game. He won praise for his how he handled the situation then and plans to find the right balance now.
“I'm think I’m very demanding. I want hard discipline,” he added. “I'm demanding on the pitch, off the pitch, I see possibilities to optimise everywhere. I demand that from myself, for the players, from the staff.
“But I'm not I'm not screaming at people. I don't have to destroy people, to show that I'm a strong leader. For me, it's about doing things together and empowering people around me so they feel strong. They can be themselves.”
Hjulmand's first game in charge will be Leverkusen's Friday night fixture at home to Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday 3.