Bayer Leverkusen Reassesses Coaching Options After Filipe Luís
Bayer Leverkusen’s search for a new head coach has taken a sharp turn. The club’s preferred option, Flamengo boss Filipe Luís, is no longer attainable, forcing sporting directors Simon Rolfes and Fernando Carro to reopen their list and move down it.
Sky reports that Filipe Luís was the clear first choice. Eight titles in three years with Flamengo will do that for a reputation. The Brazilian route, though, is blocked. So “Options B and C” are back in play.
Coaching Candidates
Two names sit front and centre: Oliver Glasner of Crystal Palace and Andoni Iraola of AFC Bournemouth. Both have declined to extend their current deals and will be free from 1 July. For a club that wants a reset and a clear identity, the timing is almost too neat.
Glasner’s Stock Soars Again
If Glasner was already on Leverkusen’s radar, Wednesday night underlined why. In his farewell match with Crystal Palace, he delivered another European trophy, adding the UEFA Europa Conference League to his résumé. Palace edged Rayo Vallecano 1-0 in the final, a tight, nervy game that suited Glasner’s knack for control in big moments.
It’s his second European title in three years after that remarkable Europa League triumph with Eintracht Frankfurt in 2022. Coaches who repeatedly lift trophies on continental nights do not stay unemployed for long.
Iraola brings a different profile. His Bournemouth side has earned admirers for intensity and tactical bravery, and his decision not to renew in the Premier League places him firmly in the market at the exact moment Leverkusen are preparing to swing the axe.
Hjulmand Era Nears Its End
No official statement has come out of Leverkusen yet, but the writing is on the wall for Hjulmand. His contract runs until 2027. It is unlikely to see another season.
The 54-year-old Dane arrived in difficult circumstances, stepping in shortly after the campaign had started. Erik ten Hag’s relationship with the club’s sporting hierarchy, parts of his staff and sections of the squad deteriorated at speed, and Hjulmand was brought in to stabilise a listing ship.
He did that, to a point. The chaos eased. The performances rarely caught fire.
Leverkusen finished sixth in the Bundesliga, missing out on Champions League qualification. They fell to Bayern in the DFB-Pokal semi-finals and exited the Champions League in the last 16 against Arsenal. Respectable on paper. Not enough in reality.
For a club that had invested heavily, the sense of underachievement lingered week after week. Several expensive signings never truly convinced, and the team seldom looked like more than the sum of its parts. Patience, always thin in this business, has worn out.
A “fresh start” is now more than a phrase. It is the plan.
Reset in Monaco as Well
Leverkusen are not alone in hitting the reset button. AS Monaco are also preparing to change course after just over six months with Sebastien Pocognoli at the helm.
Pocognoli took charge in October, tasked with steering Monaco back into European competition. The season’s final act told a different story. Back-to-back defeats to Lille and Strasbourg, right at the death, shut the door on Europe and sealed his fate.
Two ambitious clubs. Two short-lived projects. Two benches soon to be vacant.
As Leverkusen weigh Glasner, Iraola and their “concrete options B and C”, the question is no longer whether change is coming. It’s which coach will be trusted to turn expensive frustration into something that finally looks like a team built to win.
