Bo Svensson didn't seem happy when it came to Ádám Szalai on Thursday afternoon.

"I would have preferred to keep him," said the coach of FSV Mainz 05 about the striker, who switched to FC Basel in the Swiss Super League at short notice this week.

"But you have to see the overall constellation."

This includes the fact that Szalai received a contract with his new employer until mid-2023, while the one that has now been terminated in Mainz would have expired at the end of this season.

"And we couldn't give him a guarantee to extend it by a year," admitted Svensson at the press conference before the game against Bayer Leverkusen this Friday evening (8:30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on DAZN).

"After his injury history, we wanted to wait and see how the season progressed."

Unlike in his early days at Bruchweg from January 2010 to the summer of 2013, Szalai has not played a major role as a goalscorer since his return the season before last.

One Bundesliga goal per season was last recorded.

He was praised for his self-sacrificing work at the top as a ball holder and distributor and, in particular, as a leader who was recognized and valued by his teammates.

"During my time he was also an outstanding conversationalist," said Svensson, who had pulled the 34-year-old back off the siding he had got on under coaches Achim Beierlorzer and Jan-Moritz Lichte.

Svensson said that out of respect for Szalais's services to the club, his change request was finally approved.

Other experienced players in the dressing room will have to absorb the departure of the Hungarian, Szalai will not be able to be replaced one-for-one on the pitch, but Marcus Ingvartsen and winter signing Delano Burgzorg, who arrived at the end of August, ensured that alongside the previously seeded Karim Onisiwo and Jonathan Burkardt had enough quality in attack.

Ingvartsen is rid of his groin problems that have lasted for weeks and can finally enjoy full freedom of movement again.

"Best Football in the League"

The club signed the Dutchman Burgzorg out of the conviction "that he can help us, even at short notice," said Svensson.

“But we also knew that he had work ahead of him.

He has to become more consistent in his performances and get used to what we and the league need.” That doesn't sound like a finished Bundesliga striker - but it doesn't prevent the new man from taking on the role of a joker.

If Mainz want to be successful on the 23rd day of the game, they will have to be more effective in attack than in the recent 1-1 draw in Freiburg and also live up to the reputation they have earned as the best defense.

The guests in the arena at the Europakreisel are the team "that currently play the best football in the league", as Svensson acknowledges Bayer Leverkusen.

An adversary against whom, for example, you cannot close the flanks because more players would be needed than the regulations allow.

"We have to do what we always have to do," says the Mainz coach, "but we know that some things have to work better than usual in order to be successful." Good conversion of chances is just as important as avoiding mistakes to a large extent.

Incidentally, the Dane does not want to concede the 24 goals with which his team tops this ranking in the Bundesliga, which can only be judged at the end of the season.

"But we work well against the ball. That was important in Mainz when I was playing and hopefully it will stay that way.

And that will certainly be a key on Friday as well.”