Claudio Pizarro will not play for SV Werder Bremen in the 2017/18 season. Werder’s sporting director Frank Baumann announced on Sunday morning that the Green-Whites won’t be extending the 38 year old’s expiring contract.
Claudio Pizarro will not play for SV Werder Bremen in the 2017/18 season. Werder’s sporting director Frank Baumann announced on Sunday morning that the Green-Whites won’t be extending the 38 year old’s expiring contract.
“We already signaled to Claudio in mid-May that it would be very likely we wouldn’t be extending his contract. In talks with Claudio, we decided together to wait for the start of pre-season to announce the news. Due to the big competition in attack and the young talent we have, whose development we don’t want to hinder, we decided to not extend Claudio’s contract,” explained Frank Baumann, who also touched upon a possible farewell for the Peruvian, to thank him for all he’s done in Werder colours. “Claudio is a legend and fully deserves to get the best-possible farewell that a player at Werder Bremen can get – his own farewell game. Only a few Werder players have had this honour. After the end of his career, we’ll discuss all the details with him.”
Frank Baumann also commented on Claudio Pizarro’s career in the SVW jersey: “Claudio has an unbelievable career behind him, with Bremen being his first destination in Europe and where he returned to twice. In all of his three stints here, he was an absolute fan favourite. His goals and attitude contributed to making Werder successful in the last 17, 18 years, and contributed to enhancing the public’s perception of the club.”
“It was always a huge honour for me to wear the SV Werder Bremen shirt. The club, the city and the fans will always have a special place in my heart. I would have like to carry on playing for Werder, but I accept the club’s decision,” said Claudio Pizarro, who would like to continue his career elsewhere for another year.
Claudio enjoyed three spells at Werder (1999-2001/2008-2012/2015-2017) and won the DFB Pokal with the Green-Whites in 2009. He featured for Werder over 200 time in the Bundesliga and scored 104 goals. He is therefore Werder’s all-time top goalscorer, as well as the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal’s all-time foreign goalscorer.
The Peruvian will not be joining the rest of the team on Sunday afternoon, when the Green-White’s pre-season gets underway. Four other Werder players also won’t train with the first team, they are: Thanos Petsos, Levent Aycicek, Lennart Thy and Sambou Yatabare. “Right from the first day, we’d like to work intensely with the squad who we trust heading into the new season. All four players have been informed and been given different alternatives to allow them to stay fit,” said Frank Baumann.
