A season that promised much almost ended in disappointment for Bayer Leverkusen, who scrambled over the finish line on the final day of the campaign to secure a fourth placed finish. Following a successful season last time around, Sami Hyypia took sole responsibility of the first team with Sascha Lewandowski returning back to the youth team. Bayer lost first team regulars Daniel Carvajal and Andre Schurrle to Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively but Hyypia boosted his side with a number of fresh faces with Emir Spahic, Heung-Min Son, Emre Can, Roberto Hilbert and Giulio Donati arriving at the club. Bayer got their season off to an excellent start, winning six of their opening seven games while they also held Bayern Munchen to a draw at home. Defeat to Eintracht Braunschweig proved to be nothing more than a blip for Bayer, who quickly opened up a seven point lead over Borussia Dortmund and headed into the winter break as the nearest challenger to Bayern. A poor performance in the Champions League and back to back defeats against Eintracht Frankfurt and Weder Bremen provided a glimpse of the things to come and, though they managed to beat Stuttgart and Borussia Monchengladbach, Bayer's form quickly went from bad to worse with the club collecting just one point from six games in February and March. Bayer improved to beat Augsburg but dropped points against Braunschweig and Hamburger SV proved to be the last straw for the Bayer board who relieved Hyypia of his position, with Lewandowski returning on an interim basis. Form quickly improved for Bayer, who won four of their final five games, while holding Dortmund to a draw, and ultimately managing to see off Wolfsburg's challenge to finish fourth in the league table. Bayer have been already busy preparing for the next season, though Lewandowski will not be given the permanent charge of the club with Red Bull Salzburg's Roger Schmidt appointed as the successor to Hyypia. The club has seen a couple of significant departures with Sidney Sam completing his move to Schalke while Jens Hegeler has also left the club. Bayer has confirmed two arrivals, with the club bringing in Nurnberg striker Josip Drmic while Gremio defender Wendell Borges has already agreed a move to Bayer in the summer. However with speculation persisting over Emre Can's future at the club, Schmidt will need to dip into the transfer market once again, with a midfielder and a winger to replace Sam high on the Bayer coach's list if he is to ensure a better season next time around.
