Bayer Leverkusen have claimed their club’s first-ever Double after beating FC Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal final to burnish their immense 2023-24 campaign.
Xabi Alonso’s side had lost their cloak of invincibility last Wednesday as Atalanta ended the German side’s record 51-match unbeaten streak in the Europa League final in Dublin.
Leverkusen’s dreams of a fairytale unprecedented treble may have been crushed by Ademola Lookman, who netted a hat-trick in Dublin, but the 1-0 victory at the Olympiastadion in Berlin capped an unbelievable term for the Bundesliga side.
The German side’s remarkable season has largely been put down to the brilliance of Alonso, who has rightfully received the plaudits for guiding the club to their first-ever Bundesliga title without losing a game.
However, there is another man, behind the scenes, who can also be credited for masterminding Leverkusen’s recent rise.
Xabi Alonso has been praised great amounts for Bayer Leverkusen’s success, but who was responsible for bringing him in?
Bayer claimed their first-ever Bundesliga title this season, not losing a single match
Leverkusen bounced back in the German Cup final from their first defeat of the season in last week’s Europa League final
That man is Simon Rolfes, who is the director of sport at the Bundesliga champions and is renowned for his nouse for finding and bringing in top talent.
Rolfes is the genius behind securing Alonso as manager, and he also recruited the majority of Leverkusen’s current crop of superstars, including Florian Wirtz.
His journey with the German side did not start in the background, but rather in the forefront. He signed for them as a player back in 2005 at just 23 years of age.
He arrived at Leverkusen as an inexperienced midfielder who had never played a single minute in the Bundesliga, but he left the club 10 years later as a veteran of the division.
Rolfes played a total of 377 times for the German outfit, netting 49 goals, and providing 36 assists before choosing to retire from the sport following the 2014-15 season.
He hung up his boots having played 26 times for Germany and with the love of the Leverkusen faithful due to his destructive nature in the middle of the park, alongside his passion for the club.
Little did the Leverkusen supporters know that Rolfes would go on to become more important to the club following his retirement as a player.
The next chapter of his story at the club came almost instantly after he called it a day on the pitch as he was appointed director of their youth academy.
Simon Rolfes is Leverkusen’s director of sport and has overseen their recent success
Rolfes bleeds Bayer, he played 377 times for Leverkusen across a 10-year period
Rolfes then began his rapid ascent through the club’s ranks. After three years in the academy set-up, he was promoted to the role of first-team sporting director, which is where he really began to shine.
Year-by-year, and brick-by-brick, Rolfes slowly brought together the Leverkusen we see in front of us in the present day.
He has overseen a major recruitment overhaul since 2018 using a data-driven approach alongside his vast catalogue of contacts to inform him on which players suit Leverkusen’s style of play.
Two of his biggest coups came back in January 2020 when he masterminded the acquisitions of both Exequiel Palacios and Edmond Tapsoba. The two signings laid the foundations for Leverkusen’s success, with Palacios and Tapsoba both key to the club’s resurgence.
Following that came the signing of Wirtz in July of the same year for just £170,000, as they were accused of going back on a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ by local rival FC Koln to snap him up from their academy. It is perhaps the most pivotal, and the best, bit of business – bar Alonso’s signature – in the club’s recent era.
The German international is the heartbeat of the Leverkusen side, he has racked up 38 goal involvements in all competitions so far this season, netting 18 goals, and providing 20 assists, as they charge towards a domestic double.
One of the director’s best signings was Florian Wirtz, who joined in 2020 for £170,000, and has been the heartbeat of Leverkusen
Jeremie Frimpong and Piero Hincapie joined not long after, forming the foundations for the rebuild
Rolfes then pulled off the signings of Patrik Schick, Jeremie Frimpong, Piero Hincapie, and Robert Andrich, all within the next year.
What he was building at Leverkusen was certainly being noticed, and following Rudi Voller’s retirement in the summer of 2022, he was made director of sport.
His role changed, but his mindset did not. Rolfes was still the driving force of the German side’s reawakening, he still pulled the strings in their recruitment drive.
Despite making many great moves in the transfer market, performances on the pitch were still leaving a lot to be desired. In October 2022, Leverkusen were second from bottom in the Bundesliga under the stewardship of Gerardo Seoane.
Then came Rolfes’ greatest masterstroke of his six-year tenure as a director. After the decision was made to sack Seoane due to Leverkusen’s poorest start to a campaign since 1979, the director of sport appointed Alonso on the same day.
The decision to bring in the then Real Sociedad B coach was not without its critics, but Rolfes had full faith in Alonso from the very beginning.
Rolfes was responsible for bringing in Alonso in October 2022 despite being criticised for the decision
Following the Spaniard’s appointment, he said: ‘He (Alonso) was an absolutely world-class player for a number of years. He’s an intelligent strategist and was extremely successful in three of the toughest European leagues.
‘This shouldn’t be viewed as an experiment for Leverkusen. It’s not about experience, it’s about quality. Julian Nagelsmann, for example, was a lot younger when he first started out. I’m certain it’s a good opportunity.
‘There’s always an element of risk involved but you always have to improve and take forward steps. I’m absolutely convinced it will work out.’
Knowing what we know now, those comments have aged like a fine wine. Rolfes risk in hiring Alonso has reaped more rewards than he could have hoped.
The two men are a match made in heaven and the strength of their relationship has been born from their forward-thinking philosophies and hunger to succeed no matter what.
Following Alonso’s contract renewal in August 2023, the 42-year-old said: ‘The fact we are convinced of the same ideas and direction on the pitch, creates a close affinity and confidence between the club management and myself.
‘There is also a very good and relaxed working basis day-to-day. That too makes working with my staff and all Bayer 04 employees great fun.’
The Spaniard’s unequivocal support of Rolfe’s regime makes it easy to see why he has decided to stay at Bayer beyond this season despite strong interest from Liverpool – who have now appointed Arne Slot – and Bayern Munich, in months gone by.
Last summer proved to be the defining transfer window of Rolfe’s tenure as director. In addition to Alonso signing a new deal, Rolfes proved his track record of overseeing decisive transfers by bringing in three generation-defining signings.
Granit Xhaka joined from Arsenal in a £21.4million deal, Victor Boniface came in for £20m, and last, but not least, Alejandro Grimaldo signed on a free.
Xhaka has followed on from his fantastic final season at Arsenal with another fantastic campaign in the middle of the park, while Boniface is Leverkusen’s top scorer this term with 21 goals to his name.
Victor Boniface signed in the summer of 2023 and is Leverkusen’s top scorer in all competitions in 2023-24
Rolfes was crucial in persuading Alejandro Grimaldo to join the club on a free last year
However, despite both their brilliance, it’s Grimaldo who takes the title of signing of the summer. Since joining from Benfica, the Spaniard has a case for being the best full-back in Europe.
The 28-year-old has been nothing short of sensational over the last nine months. He has scored 12 goals and supplied 19 assists for his teammates.
Rolfes was key in bringing in Grimaldo on a free, and it seems his smooth-talking nature made the difference during talks last year.
‘We convinced him that the football we play here suits him better,’ said Rolfes on negotiations with Grimaldo.
‘He was already a good player at Benfica, and that was actually an important point. He wanted to try something new and we could offer him that and at a high level. Obviously, it was also an advantage that he had a Spanish-speaking coach in Xabi Alonso, who rates him highly.’
Needless to say, not all of Rolfes purchases have proved fruitful, but the majority have, and that is all that people will remember.
To allow wriggle room to bring in the players you want, sometimes you have to let some stars go, and that is exactly what Rolfes has done during his time at Leverkusen.
Leon Bailey (left) and Moussa Diaby (right) both left Leverkusen for Aston Villa for around a combined £75m
Perhaps the best examples of this at Leverkusen are the departures of Leon Bailey in 2021, and Moussa Diaby in 2023, both leaving Leverkusen for Aston Villa.
Leverkusen recuperated around £75m for the pair which helped fund the final stages of their extraordinary rebuild.
It’s clear that Rolfes’s innovative approach and desire for success have played a huge part in Leverkusen’s emergence over the last year, and his track record while at the club signifies that there is still more to come.
It remains to be seen what the future holds past this season for Bayer, and whether it will be just a flash in the pan, but what is for sure is that with Rolfes behind Alonso, they stand in good stead.