Before the Europa League match in Budapest, Charles Aranguiz suddenly talks about leaving in the summer. The club does not want to put the strategist’s words on the gold scale. These are the backgrounds for the frustration of the Chilean international.
Is Charles Aranguiz already leaving Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the summer and thus a year before the end of his contract, which runs until June 2023? In an interview with the Chilean newspaper “Las Ultimas Noticias”, the Chilean international has at least expressed this thought very clearly.
Aranguiz: “So in June, I will reconsider the question of my contract “
While pointing out that his two sponsors, former sporting director Jonas Boldt (moved to HSV in 2019) and managing director Rudi Völler will be missing as reference persons in his day-to-day business, Aranguiz, who has played for Leverkusen since 2015, stated: “So in June I will reconsider the question of my contract.”
The club’s reaction is rather reserved. “The fact that he is perhaps a bit dissatisfied and frustrated about the last time in which he had to struggle a lot with injuries, I can also understand,” explained sporting director Simon Rolfes shortly before the departure for the Europa League match at Ferencvaros Budapest “I don’t want to put that too high.”
This also applies to the fact that Aranguiz is making no bones about the fact that he has chosen Brazil, where he played for Internacional Porto Alegre before joining Bayer 04, as the next destination in his career. However, Rolfes does not deduce a firm decision or at least advanced thoughts by Aranguiz to move in the summer from the player’s words.
Rolfes: “The last weeks and months were not ideal for him, of course.
“The fact that he always has Brazil on his mind, that was already the case two years ago,” explains the sports director with regard to the contract negotiations at that time, but admits: “The last weeks and months were of course not optimal for him.” In fact, unlike in previous years, when he always returned to the starting eleven after only a few days of training following injuries, Aranguiz was only used as a wild card twice recently.
Another reason why Aranguiz is disgruntled: before the international break in November, the midfielder, who was still suffering from a muscle tendon injury in his calf at the time, was given a clear message internally that he should not travel to South America for the World Cup qualifiers despite being requested to do so by the Chilean FA.
Even though Bayer 04 had no means to push through the insistent request, the 32-year-old finally complied and stayed in Germany. But this very stringent announcement apparently soured the six-pointer, who was still not ready for action after the international break in the Bundesliga match against VfL Bochum (1-0) and in the Europa League against Celtic Glasgow (3-2).
The fact that Aranguiz is now publicly mourning former sporting director Jonas Boldt in Chile and managing director Rudi Völler, who left the club in the summer, could also have something to do with the fact that Rolfes had the unpleasant conversation with Aranguiz at the beginning of November.
Bayer does not want to take his statements too seriously. Rather, they hope that the mood of the international will change when he is fit again and can play regularly.
Aranguiz currently only one of four or five strong sixes
“It’s important for him that he comes in in the next games, that he – and that’s what we wish for him – gets back the form from the 2019/2020 season,” said Rolfes, “when he was a very important player for us.”
Was. Back then, Aranguiz was considered irreplaceable. Currently, he is only one of four or five more or less equally strong sixes in the squad.
The last word on the future of the defensive midfielder has probably not yet been spoken. Anyone who knows how reserved South American professionals in general, and Aranguiz in particular, usually express themselves in the media, knows how to classify the strategist’s move: Namely as an unequivocal statement.
