# If you hadn’t become a professional footballer…
“I would have moved abroad and then probably still gone on to study something within the field of sport, but I didn’t really have any concrete plans. Going abroad and seeing the world has always appealed to me. I think North America and Australia are great. The main thing would be exploring far-flung places and getting out of Europe. But I am still young and who knows what is still to come.”
# My favourite shirt-swap is...
“...from my first season in the Bundesliga. In one of my first appearances I swapped shirts with Mario Götze, who was still playing for Dortmund back then. He wore the number 31 shirt and I still have it at home, but I haven’t managed to hang it up yet.”
# St. Pauli is a special club because...
“...much like Werder, everyone sticks together. They live and breath football and there is a strong connection between the fans, the town and the team. You notice that even during difficult periods, which I went through twice in my time there. The players are not booed after a defeat, rather everyone sticks together. Another thing is the fact that the club is located righ in the centre, which definitely contributes to a particularly strong connection with the town. St. Pauli is definitely a remarkable club with quite few parallels to Werder. You could see against Mainz that when we bust a gut, we are still applauded off the pitch, even though we suffered an unlucky defeat. The same thing would happen at St. Pauli.
# If I was put at centre-half for a game...
“...I would just keep spraying diagonal passes! (laughs)”
