{"id":2923,"date":"2026-06-06T07:34:35","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:34:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923"},"modified":"2026-06-06T07:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T07:34:35","slug":"new-leverkusen-coach-carles-martinez-aims-to-build-on-xabi-alonsos-legacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923","title":{"rendered":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso’s legacy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Bayer Leverkusen new coach Carles Martinez Novell smiles during his presentation at a press conference in Leverkusen, Germany, Friday June 5, 2026. (Anke Waelischmiller\/dpa via AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

LEVERKUSEN, Germany \u2014 The legacy of Xabi Alonso still looms large at Bayer Leverkusen. Now the team he led to an unlikely Bundesliga title<\/a> is trying to find success again with another Spanish coach.<\/p>

Read more Roki Sasaki\u2019s 10 strikeouts, a harder splitter and a long-awaited breakthrough for the Dodgers<\/a><\/p>\n

Carles Mart\u00ednez told the Associated Press he wants to learn from Alonso\u2019s example, and might seek the now-Chelsea coach<\/a> \u2018s advice, but he wants to put his own imprint on Leverkusen.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s barely a year since Alonso left Leverkusen<\/a> for Real Madrid, and two since he led Leverkusen to the German title and an historic unbeaten league season.<\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez arrives from Toulouse amid hopes he can turn things around after Leverkusen started 2025-26 under Erik ten Hag, only to fire him after three games<\/a> , then missed Champions League qualification under replacement Kasper Hjulmand.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing I have learned a lot is to accept the reality, accept the place that you are (at), and here in Leverkusen it\u2019s normal that the brand of Xabi Alonso (remains) because what they did was amazing and we have to try to take advantage of a lot of things from that,\u201d he told the AP on Friday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut also it\u2019s important that now it\u2019s one year without Xabi Alonso. I\u2019m sure that if I talk with him he will try to help (the club) to be better. But the most important is that after one year, come on, (I have to) learn about which type of things was amazing, which type of things Kasper (Hjulmand) did as well, and which type of things can improve, and after (that) it\u2019s keep growing, keep building Leverkusen history. This is very, very important.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Brewers score 8 late runs, stun Rockies 9-7 in wild 10-inning victory<\/a><\/p>\n

Mart\u00ednez said he wants to focus on communication with players and building team spirit \u2014 something that was much criticized during Ten Hag\u2019s brief tenure last year.<\/p>\n

Once a Barcelona youth coach who worked with a young Gavi and Xavi Simons, Mart\u00ednez wants to develop more young talent at Leverkusen, which has a reputation for producing some of Europe\u2019s top players like Kai Havertz and Florian Wirtz.<\/p>\n

Leverkusen sporting managing director Simon Rolfes told the AP he was aiming for stability in the squad after last season\u2019s turmoil, and signings this offseason would focus on \u201cmore precise\u201d changes to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast summer was a massive change of the squad, massive change of key players. So we really needed to restart building the squad,\u201d Rolfes said. \u201cLast summer for sure there were so many question marks in so many things and that was a challenge, so I think we can take advantage this summer from the things we did last summer.\u201d<\/p>

Read more Inspired by Robinson, Knicks bench shines against Wembanyama, Spurs to capture 13th straight victory<\/a><\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The legacy of Xabi Alonso still looms large at Bayer Leverkusen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2921,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nNew Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The legacy of Xabi Alonso still looms large at Bayer Leverkusen\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9efec84af81ac493f5d1a9dd8fa7a5ab-scaled.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1707\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso’s legacy\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923\"},\"wordCount\":532,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923\",\"name\":\"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1707},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2923#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso’s legacy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Moving Insider USA\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA","og_description":"The legacy of Xabi Alonso still looms large at Bayer Leverkusen","og_url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923","og_site_name":"Moving Insider USA","article_published_time":"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1707,"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/9efec84af81ac493f5d1a9dd8fa7a5ab-scaled.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"headline":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso’s legacy","datePublished":"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923"},"wordCount":532,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg","articleSection":["Interesting"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923","name":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso's legacy - Moving Insider USA","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg","datePublished":"2026-06-06T07:34:35+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/28b957ac4aaac04caa45a32b381910b3-scaled.jpg","width":2560,"height":1707},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2923#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"New Leverkusen coach Carles Martinez aims to build on Xabi Alonso’s legacy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/","name":"Moving Insider USA","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/#\/schema\/person\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com"],"url":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2921"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}