Naldo transfers to Wolfsburg

Defender Naldo is leaving SV Werder Bremen and transferring to Wolfsburg. The Brazilian will sign on a four-year contract in the coming days. Werder manager Klaus Allofs made the announcement Tuesday afternoon at the Green-Whites' training camp in Zillertal.

The 29-year-old centre back will leave the team quarters in Zell am Ziller this evening. "Naldo is a very deserved player for Werder. We went some great ways together. That's why we assured him that we would approve a transfer if the conditions were right for him and for Werder Bremen. Of course we wanted to extend Naldo's contract, but we could not compete with the offer from Wolfsburg," said Allofs. Details and contractual content were not released by any of the parties involved.

Naldo has played with Werder since 2005, making him the second-oldest serving Werder player in the preparations after Aaron Hunt. "The decision was not easy for me. It was really difficult to leave Bremen. I had a lot of success with Werder. The club and the fans really grew on my heart. But the offer from Wolfsburg was really very good. Now I have the chance to stay in the Bundesliga. That was important for me and my family," said Naldo about the transfer.

Head coach Thomas Schaaf regrets the departure of the veteran defender. "We connect Naldo with a lot of positive moments. He is a great loss for us. We cannot be happy about it. But we are very well manned in the centre of the defense. The competition will remain high even after this transfer. I am convinced that we will be successful in the path we have taken," said Schaaf.

Naldo transferred to Werder in the summer of 2005 from Esporte Clube Juventude and he served for years as a pillar of the defense. He appeared in 173 Bundesliga matches for Werder, scoring 22 goals. He won the League Cup in 2006 and the German DFB Cup in 2009. In 2006 and 2008 he was German Bundesliga runner-up and reached the finals of the UEFA Cup in 2009 and the German DFB Cup in 2010.