After a syndesmosis tear, Edmond Tapsoba trained with his colleagues again for the first time on Wednesday. His chances of playing against Bayern Munich on 17 October are more theoretical, even if coach Gerardo Seoane does not categorically rule out a comeback for the defender in the top game.
It is the first steps together with his colleagues. After Tapsoba had injured himself in the first half of July and thus before the start of the preparation, he returned to team training on Wednesday. However, “without physical contact, only as a wild card”, as Gerardo Seoane explained.
So the Burkina Faso international only acted as an outside face-off station in the seven-a-side game, later practised positional play with nine colleagues without opponents and was then individually trained by Seoane, while the reserves finally played five-a-side on the small pitch.
A gentle start, then, for the 22-year-old, who is expected to “get confidence in his foot and train parts with the team next week. That is the goal,” said Seoane. For Tapsoba, the Bayern game should therefore still come a little too soon.
Seone: “Considering that he had no preparation “
With Leverkusen’s coach not categorically ruling out a nomination of the defender against Munich. However, Tapsoba is not yet familiar enough with the tactical ideas of his new coach, as he simply does not know the procedures from practice due to his time out of action.
“Considering he’s had no preparation,” Seoane puts the brakes on expectations, but adds: “But purely theoretically, if everything goes normally, he could be fit for action next weekend, but he’s already missing a bit of the physical build-up and game shapes.”
Tapsoba will be taught the tactical requirements in practice from now on. “We are already trying to combine that with individual exercises to catch up,” the coach explains. “How does he have to position himself? What do we want after winning the ball? Where should the first pass be played? Where does he have to run to in the box? Where must he not go?”, Seoane lists the topics that Tapsoba must now tackle on the training pitch.
Fosu-Mensah still needs some time
Not quite as far along as Tapsoba is his defensive colleague Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who continues to train individually after tearing his cruciate ligament but is slowly working his way up. “In two or three weeks, he will be able to start taking part in team training,” explains Seoane.
However, the 42-year-old does not want to make a final prediction on the timing of the right-back’s comeback. “We will be happy when he is back. But then, after an injury like that, you still have to have in mind that he won’t be able to participate in everything from the start then,” Seoane considers, “that wouldn’t make sense. “
