“The goal will help him settle in quicker”

A new season has brought some new faces to Werder, with summer signings Oskar Wójcik, Chuki and Kenny Quetant all featuring in the 6-2 friendly win over FC Verden 04. It was a promising first outing for the trio, who gave the Green-Whites’ supporters an early glimpse of what they can offer. After the game, head coach Daniel Thioune and Niklas Stark shared their first impressions of Werder’s new arrivals.

“They’ve all made a good impression,” said Stark. “They’ve got the right attitude, they want to learn and they work hard. I don’t want to single anyone out because they’re all doing well.” Quetant did, however, provide one of the standout moments by marking his debut with a goal. The Frenchman met Marco Grüll’s cross first time and turned it home for Werder’s sixth of the afternoon.

“The goal will help Kenny settle in quicker,” said Thioune. “Chuki also showed that there’s more to his game than us simply talking about the quality of his left foot. You could see it out there. His free-kick and his passes in behind certainly caught the eye.” The Spaniard came close to getting on the scoresheet himself in the 68th minute, curling a left-footed free-kick from a central position against the outside of the post.

Quetant and Chuki both featured after the break, while Oskar Wójcik played the first half. The Polish centre-back is likely to have more chances to show his defensive qualities as pre-season continues. “In the other games, we’ll get to see more of how well he can defend,” said Thioune. “He’ll be tested a lot more defensively in those matches.”

All three new signings made an encouraging start, although Thioune stressed that they will need time before they can hope to establish themselves as Bundesliga regulars. “They’ll need time and we have to be patient with them,” he said. The Werder head coach will get another chance to take a closer look at the trio during the upcoming training camp in the Zillertal.