One of the brightest teams of the beginning of the millennium, the finalist of the 2002 Champions League, Leverkusen Bayer has not been on the list of applicants for victory in the German championship for several years and is not surprising in Europe. Why - the sports director of the club Rudy Feller explains to the correspondent of the site www.sports.ru :
After the 2001/02 season, when we almost won the Champions Cup, we had to reduce the cost of salaries for players - about three times.
That is, in the near future, Bayer will not be able to buy expensive players from abroad?
“Dear” is a very relative concept. Shevchenko, by the standards of our club, is not just a dear football player - he is unimaginable, space-expensive for Bayer. Kisling is dear to us, for which Bayer paid 5 million euros. No, we, of course, continue to search for players abroad - in the same Brazil. But lately it has been more difficult for us to allocate money for the purchase of new players.
And if Bayer won that final against Real Madrid, could everything have gone differently?
No, definitely. This, of course, would be a huge success, but quite local. He would not have influenced the further development of the club. We would have to cut costs anyway. Leverkusen is not the largest city in Germany, and the market in which Bayer operates is, accordingly, also.
And what goals does Bayer set for the season in the current state of affairs?
Take fourth or sixth place in the Bundesliga. It is quite real. In addition, we will try to advance as far as possible in the UEFA Cup. You can, of course, tell everyone around you about the intention to become a champion, and somewhere in the soul we have it. But separation from reality is the first step towards global problems.
And if we talk about the future, due to what Bayer is going to compete, including financially, with clubs from major cities - Munich, Hamburg.
In fact, at an unattainable distance from us there is only one club - Bayern. But from the point of view of infrastructure, we practically do not concede to the same Hamburg. In money - probably yes, but not too much. I think Bayer’s budget is somewhere around the sixth Bundesliga team.
You didn’t think about returning Topmeeller or Daum to the club?
Why all of a sudden?
Bayer fought with them for the championship and successfully played in European competitions.
Then we had a completely different team - with Ballack, Luciu, Ze Roberto, and so on. Perhaps the best in club history. And we are very pleased with how Michael Skibbe works now. Last season, we brilliantly spent the second round, which allowed us to finish on the fifth line. This, given the current realities, was a great success for us.
Andrei Voronin this season is not at all in the base. Why don't you sell it?
He has a contract valid for another season. We hope that he will play more often and score a couple of goals for Bayer. However, it is possible that Voronin will leave next summer.