“We’ve created new possibilities”

In the final few days of the transfer window, SV Werder Bremen have added three new reinforcements in the form of Youri Regeer, Moussa Ndiaye and Arthur. Samuel Mbangula has left the club on a loan deal to Bologna, with Patrice Čović also moving to Dresden on a temporary basis. As deadline day drew to a close, managing director for sport Clemens Fritz held a press conference and fielded questions from journalists about…

…the outcomes from the transfer window: “I would divide the window into three sections. We wanted to explore the market at a really early stage and made some signings early on. The World Cup acted as a short break, before we brought Niclas Füllkrug, Eren Dinkci and Ludovit Reis in. In doing so, we took as risk, not knowing what was happening in terms of departures. Then, we ramped things up again and reacted to Jens Stage’s injury. We also said that we could do with some defensive signings and are still hoping that Mitchell Weiser and Felix Agu will come back soon.”

…the loans: “We have made five loan signings – for two of the players, we have the final say and can call the shots. Youri is a replacement for Jens, and we also have an option to buy him. The moves for Eren and Niclas were motivated by emotion and wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. All in all, we’ve made 14 signings, with five loans among them, and for two of them we hold the cards.”

…the squad: “We have players in the squad who can play in two or three positions, and we have at least one back-up in every position. We can also add young players who we want to develop to that mix. We want to keep the squad in good shape and avoid making it too bloated. We’re also confident that one or two players are close to returning to action. We made the conscious decision not to sign any more midfielders so that we could make some moves for full-backs.”

…the level of the squad: “We’ve created new attacking possibilities for ourselves. We have a certain level of experience and proven quality, along with the freshness of the younger players. I view the squad as being competitive – with the knowledge that pre-season didn’t go to plan on account of the injuries.”

…Stage and Njinmah’s injuries: “As you can imagine, the last few days haven’t been easy. We assumed that Justin’s injury from the Freiburg game wouldn’t be too serious. Unfortunately, the last 24 hours have shown that we underestimated it. Every unjury hurts us and we can’t replace players on a like-for-like basis. It was a shock to all of us, but we don’t want to complain, rather we want to be optimistic and look to the future.”

…Youri Regeer: “We can’t replace Jens like-for-like. That’s because he’s been at Werder for too long and has internalised the club’s DNA. We don’t want to burden Youri with all this baggage. He’s a young player with a lot of experience who has already played at international level. He’s very circumspect and can execute things very quickly. We know about his quality and don’t want to make any comparisons. Youri should forge his own path.”

…Samuel Mbangula: “We had talks with Sam and his agent, and we reached a good structure with a loan fee. There are two possibilities: either the club triggers the option, or he comes back to us. We believe in Sam and can see his potential. But we’re also aware that his first year wasn’t easy. The hope is that he can get back to his best in familiar surroundings in Italy. I’m sold on his footballing ability. The important thing, though, is that he gets minutes in the tank and a change of scenery.”

…Patrice Čović: “For Patrice, the decision wasn’t too hard for us, since he also expressed his desire to play more. His talent his obvious, but we weren’t in a position to guarantee him games. The loan also doesn’t contain an option to buy for the other team.”

…Julian Malatini: “He could still leave. The market in the MLS is open for a day longer and we’re both working on a deal. We have until tomorrow morning to get the deal over the line. Still, it’s a case of sorting out his residence and work permits.”

…Skelly Alvero and Dawid Kownacki: “Following Patrice’s departure, there’s a high likelihood that Skelly stays. We have three players for the number nine position again. There are still markets that are open. If we find a solution, we’ll open negotiations.”