Shortly before midnight, Peter Bosz, out of disappointment and annoyance, wrote a headline that had no chance of making it out into the world as breaking news from the start. Bayer Leverkusen were eliminated from the Europa League after a weak performance against Inter Milan with a 1: 2, so the extended season was finally over for Leverkusen. The coach Bosz was asked in the virtual press conference whether this might have been Kai Havertz’s last game for Bayer.
For weeks, Bosz has primarily had to answer questions about Havertz’s future, who is said to have moved to Chelsea in London. Shortly before midnight, Bosz got tired of answering questions about Havertz’s future, so he decided to finally tell the stubborn reporters the truth and get rid of this issue once and for all. He said: “I can tell you that Kai Havertz will play for Heracles Almelo next season.”
Bosz announced his fake news with a straight face and then did not say “just kidding” or “joking aside”, as coaches usually do when they have been ironic or have made a gag. Bosz stayed serious and did not postpone anything, but there was still no excitement on Tuesday night at Chelsea FC in London, Heracles in Almelo and Bayer in Leverkusen, because Bosz’s irony still arrived. Up in the press box, where reporters were watching the press conference on their laptops, there was roaring laughter.
Bosz has been in Leverkusen since January 2019, he doesn’t actually tend to really sparkling gags, but this one, that was one, because the idea that the 21-year-old Kai Havertz from Mariadorf near Aachen, one of the greatest talents in Europe, would not go to FC Barcelona , not to Real Madrid, FC Bayern, FC Chelsea or Manchester City, but to eighth place in the Dutch Eredivisie in Almelo in the province of Overijssel, that is a wonderfully absurd idea that makes the laws of the market and money so absurd It would make you wish, for a brief moment, that the headline was true.
Havertz is said to be worth 100 million euros, Bayer would like to raise that much money with its sale wherever, but on Monday evening in the Europa League quarter-finals in Düsseldorf you could see why clubs could hesitate, so much money for the lanky to pay slightly fragile, if technically and tactically brilliant young man, because Havertz hardly managed anything against robust Milanese. Like the rest of the Bayer team, they practically took him out of the game through aggressive presing and a tough approach. If you physically intimidate a player like Havertz, his playful brilliance can hardly develop.
That was one of the reasons why Leverkusen had no chance against Milan despite the seemingly narrow result. The game could also have ended 5-1 for Inter, and Leverkusen shouldn’t have complained. Their goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky ruined many Milanese chances and two penalties for Inter were taken back after studying video, despite striker Romelu Lukaku standing by for minutes.
So Leverkusen got away visually with a black eye, but in fact the season was over for them: with fifth place in the Bundesliga, missed the Champions League, lost the cup final against Bayern Munich and eliminated in the Europa League in the quarter-finals – Bayer had three times smelled of success, but in the end they only managed to qualify for the Europa League again. That is not enough to rate the season as a success, and so there was a second fake news on Monday night when the club spokesman ended the virtual press conference with Peter Bosz and defender Lars Bender with the words: “I thank the captain and with the coach for a great season. ” But nobody laughed about that up in the press box.
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