Few would argue with the fact that Bayer Leverkusen possesses one of the most promising young squads in the Bundesliga. Former trainer, Michael Skibbe, along with sporting director, Rudi Voller, have assembled a vibrant, young squad that has threatened to achieve something in the past two seasons but ultimately failed.

The failure to deliver ultimately cost Skibbe his job at the end of last season, and with him having taken over the hot-seat at Galatasaray, the onus is now on new trainer, Bruno Labbadia, to help the talented side achieve its potential. Labbadia is a relatively inexperienced coach; with just one season in the second division under his belt after previously taking Darmstadt into the Regionalliga, but the Bayer board believes he has the mentality to take the team forward.

Leverkusen was genuine contenders for a Champions League spot last season until it's now customary slump at the end of the season. One of its main targets this season will be to keep up its form for 34 games, rather than wowing everybody before fizzling out.

Its star began to fall on match day 25 when it travelled to the Allianz Arena to face Bayern Munich. A 2-1 defeat didn't tell the whole story it was abundantly clear that the gulf between the two sides was much bigger than the point difference in the table showed.

At the time Leverkusen was third, but the team never really recovered from the shock of that game and finally slipped down to seventh and out of the European places altogether.

Labbadia has a stellar squad at his disposal and with some very good acquisitions this summer he will have few excuses for not improving on last season's seventh place finish.

The future of German goalkeeping is definitely going to be in the hands of Rene Adler, although Schalke's Manuel Neuer may yet play his way into contention. Adler single handedly secured points for Bayer last year with some fantastic saves and the Bayer goal is in safe hands with him around.

The whole team is an exciting mix of youth and experience with two particularly exciting summer signings thrown into the mix. Bayer has traditionally had a few Brazilians in the ranks but last season they were conspicuous by their absence following the sale of Juan to Roma. This summer has seen the club splash out #6 million on midfield playmaker Renato Augusto from Flamengo.

A second Brazilian has arrived via a loan move from Spanish side Barcelona. The Catalan giants signed Henrique from Palmeiras, but immediately sent him out on a season-long loan to Leverkusen. Henrique will bolster a defence that already has the solid Manuel Friedrich, Tunisian Karim Haggui as well as German international full back Gonzalo Castro, Chilean Arturo Vidal and Vratislav Gresko. Another summer signing that was missed by many was that of Ivorian left back, Constant Djakpa, who arrived from Romanian side Pandurii Targu-Jiu.

Simon Rolfes, who played for Germany at this summer's European Championship, will anchor the midfield with Renato Augusto and Swiss star, Tranquillo Barnetta given licence to get forward. Veteran Bernd Schneider is recovering from a back operation and Leverkusen fans will be hoping the veteran can return to his best form, but the fear is his best days may be behind him. His experience, however, will be vital especially with Bosnian Sergej Barbarez hanging up his boots.

Up front Labbadia-himself a prolific striker in his day-has an abundance of riches available. Stefan Kiessling and Theofanis Gekas have been joined by rising star, Patrick Helmes, so putting the ball in the back of the net shouldn't be a problem this season.

One hindrance Bayer would have to overcome is the fact that the team will be forced to play its home games during the second half of the season away from the BayArena, as it is being developed. They will take temporary residence in Dusseldorf's LTU Arena.

Coach: Bruno Labbadia

Stadium: BayArena (currently- 22,500)

2007/08

Position: 7th

2007/08

Record: P-34 W-15 D-6 L-13 F-57 A-40 Pts-51

Players In: Henrique (Barcelona- loan), Renato Augusto (Flamengo), Patrick Helmes (Cologne), Constant Djakpa (Pandurii Targu-Jiu)

Players Out: Sergej Barbarez (retired), Carsten Ramelow (retired), Jan Ingwer Callsen-Bracker (Borussia M'nchengladbach), Paul Feier (Bochum), Michael Papadopulos (Mlada Boleslav)

Possible Line-Up: Adler- Djakpa, Henrique, Haggui, Castro- Rolfes, Barnetta, Schneider, Renato Augusto- Helmes, Kiessling

Prognosis:

There will be an improvement on last season but it is felt that Bayer may once again miss out on a European place. It is asking a lot for an inexperienced trainer like Labbadia to instantly achieve what an experienced coach like Michael Skibbe couldn't last season.

The team will no doubt entertain and provide a number of players for the German national team (Adler, Castro, Rolfes, Schneider, Kiessling, Helmes)but could just fall short of its ambitions this season. It will be interesting to see how the two Brazilians settle in Germany.