Bayer Leverkusen saw their dreams of an unbeaten Treble dashed in Dublin on Wednesday, but back in Berlin this weekend they can still end a record-breaking season with more silverware.
The 3-0 defeat to Atalanta in the Europa League final was the first loss Xabi Alonso’s side have suffered all season and having won a Bundesliga title without losing a game they can complete a domestic Double by beating second-tier Kaiserslautern in the DFB Pokal final on Saturday night.
Even without the Europa League crown, it remains one of the most remarkable seasons in the history of top-level football in Europe and Leverkusen head into the Champions League next season with Alonso still at the helm. But one player who won’t be there to make the step up is Timothy Fosu-Mensah.
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The former Manchester United youngster joined the Bundesliga side in January 2021 for £1.8million but he has made just 30 appearances during an injury-hit spell at the club and is likely to depart when his contract expires this summer. Having sustained cruciate knee ligament injuries during his time at United and Bayer Leverkusen, Fosu-Mensah now needs to start playing regularly again.
He has made the matchday squad nine times this season, seven times in the Bundesliga and twice in the DFB Pokal, but hasn’t made it onto the pitch at any point. The last time he made the bench was on February 10 for the decisive 3-0 win against Bayern Munich.
Fosu-Mensah posted a picture to Instagram of Leverkusen lifting the Bundesliga title at the BayArena last weekend with the message “beyond proud of the boys” but he didn’t automatically qualify for a medal having not played this season. If he isn’t in the squad for the cup final then he won’t directly qualify for a medal then either.
It is now more than a year since Fosu-Mensah last played a competitive game and while he swapped life at United under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for a team that has enjoyed success in Germany, injury has stopped him from being a part of it. It was injuries that restricted his development at United as well.
He is now closing in on 1,000 days of being injured in his professional career and has missed more than 150 games as a result of fitness issues. Having initially made a good impression at Leverkusen he isn’t close to the first team now, with Jeremie Frimpong impressing as an attacking right wing-back.
It’s a far cry from a gilded youth career which saw him leave Ajax to join United as a 16-year-old. He made his debut at 18 under Louis van Gaal as a left-back in the 3-2 win against Arsenal which is most famous for being Marcus Rashford’s Premier League debut and ended that season as an FA Cup winner.
Although Van Gaal was sacked in the aftermath of that cup final and replaced by Jose Mourinho, Fosu-Mensah made a positive impression under the Portuguese coach and learned a lot from the experience.
“I spent the full [2016/17] season with the first team and as a result of that, I completed a full pre-season with them for the first time,” he said. “I was still a teenager when Jose Mourinho arrived and he helped me mature into becoming a man in footballing terms.
“Jose was tough on young players with his demands but in a good way because he wanted you to be ready to represent a club the size of Manchester United. He helped make me stronger mentally and physically.
“I remember playing against Northampton Town in the early rounds of the League Cup – which we went on to win at the end of the season – and I did not have my best game.
“He subbed me after 60 minutes and we had a Europa League game coming up a week or so after the League Cup game, which I did not think I had a chance of playing in after he subbed me off. However, he started me in the Europa League game and I played the full game which gave me confidence to continue to grow at the club.
“We went on to win the Europa League against Ajax at the end of the season and that was a great achievement for the club.
“Overall, I have to say that I really enjoyed working under Jose Mourinho. He was really good with me as a young player. He is open-minded and he is a very good manager, as his career has shown.”
Fosu-Mensah’s second season under Mourinho saw him enjoy a loan spell at Crystal Palace but a knee injury during a loan move to Fulham a year later began the succession of problems that have plagued him.
That kept him out for 14 months and although he returned under Solskjaer and briefly looked like reviving his Old Trafford career, a permanent departure arrived in January 2021 after 30 appearances for the club.
There were nine appearances under Solskjaer and Fosu-Mensah, a three-cap Netherlands international, felt it was time to move on and seek more regular first-team football.
“It was my decision. The manager was good to me but at the end I was not playing a lot,” he said shortly after moving to Germany. “When you are 22, 23, 24 years old you need to be playing. I didn’t play much and I wanted to.
“It was the best decision in the end to go somewhere else where I would get more minutes. The club and the manager were good to me. I recovered from a big injury, they helped me, gave me minutes – I played in the FA Cup semi-final and the Europa League semi-final.
“But it’s important to play regularly and to get my opportunity in the national team too.”
Unfortunately for Fosu-Mensah, it hasn’t worked out as he would have hoped and at the age of 26 another move looks likely this summer. He is still three games away from completing 100 senior club matches and for the second time in his career has gone over a year without a competitive outing.
Speaking to World Football Index in April 2023, shortly after recovering from his serious knee injury, Fosu-Mensah reflected on his time at the club to date.
“I have mixed emotions in regard to my time at the club so far because when I arrived I was playing regularly and enjoying my football,” he said.
“I also felt at home straight away at the club which was important to me. The atmosphere around the club and the quality of players that we have here is impressive.
“I spoke to Leon Bailey — now at Aston Villa — before I came to Leverkusen and he spoke very highly about the club and helped me settle in when I arrived, as did the whole club. Everyone looked after me.
“Unfortunately, after establishing myself in the team in my first season, I suffered a cruciate ligament injury which kept me out of action for ten months.
“The recovery from such an injury is tough and it required a lot of hard work and dedication to come back but the club fully supported me in my recovery which I am thankful for.
“Our sporting director Simon Rolfes, in particular, supported me really well as he knew from his playing experience that my injury was not an easy injury to overcome.”
Fosu-Mensah also had praise for Alonso, who joined the club in October 2022. “Xabi is a good manager and I am enjoying working with him,” he said.
“He played at the highest level of football possible for many years for both club teams and for his country so he knows what it takes to succeed as a player.
“As such, he is very personable in his interactions with players. Tactically, he is also strong and you know what he wants from you as a player.
“He understands what is needed all over the pitch and he helps me in my role as a defender with the instructions and advice that he gives me.”
Unfortunately, Fosu-Mensah hasn’t had the chance to transfer that work onto the pitch. His final involvement with Bayer Leverkusen is likely to be a watching brief as they bid to end a record-breaking season on a high on Saturday night. If they lift the cup the celebrations could be bittersweet for the former United youngster.