Depressed Bayer Leverkusen CEO says it’ll take years to catch Bayern Munich

Bayer Leverkusen CEO Fernando Carro has delivered a sobering assessment of his club’s prospects, admitting it could be “2028 or 2029” before the BayArena side are in a position to challenge Bayern Munich for the Bundesliga title again. Speaking candidly to Bild, Carro confessed that the financial gulf between the clubs—Bayern’s budget is roughly triple that of Leverkusen—makes a swift resurgence unlikely.

“It hurts me that Bayern are dominating the league so much,” Carro said. “Of course, they have three times our budget, but they’ve done a lot of good work over the years. Nevertheless, you have to try to give them a hard time. We managed to do that in 2024.”

That season, under the guidance of Xabi Alonso, Leverkusen produced one of the most remarkable campaigns in German football history, storming to an unbeaten league title and advancing to the Champions League knockouts. Key performers included Florian Wirtz, Alejandro Grimaldo, Granit Xhaka, Jonathan Tah, and even Bayern loanee Josip Stanišić. Yet the triumph proved fleeting: Alonso departed for Real Madrid, and the squad was gradually dismantled. Today, Leverkusen sit sixth in the table, a stark contrast to the heights of 2024.

Carro remains convinced the club can climb back into contention, but he is explicit about the timeline. “Not this year, or even next year,” he conceded, pointing toward the latter half of the decade for a realistic tilt at the Meisterschale.

In the immediate term, Leverkusen must shift focus to European competition, where they face Arsenal in the Champions League. Few observers give them a chance, yet Carro believes a defiant performance against the English giants could serve as a statement of intent. “If we want to challenge a team like Bayern,” he noted, “maybe putting up a fight would be a good start.”

While Leverkusen plot their long-term rebuild, Bayern continue to set the standard both domestically and on the continent. The Bavarians’ squad depth is such that even peripheral figures like Konrad Laimer are attracting widespread transfer interest, and emerging talents such as Aleksandar Pavlović are already viewed as future captain material.

For Leverkusen, the road back to the summit is steep, but Carro’s message is clear: patience, prudent planning, and periodic reminders of 2024’s magic are the only way forward.