Fin Bartels has had to push through 274 days of rehabilitation after picking up his injury in the Winter. On Wednesday, Werder’s attacking ace rejoined first team training and is almost back to where he wants to be: on the pitch at the Weser-Stadion. He spoke to WERDER.DE about his recovery.
Fin has worked hard to get where he is now. Many intensive sessions lie in the wake of the rapid winger, which seems to go largely unnoticed. When asked if he spent the time out with his family, he had this to say: “that’s a common misunderstanding that everyone has… I’ve spent more time than ever here at the Weser-Stadion and have been working towards my recovery from morning ‘til night.” Such a serious injury hardly gave him a moment to breathe.
This was Bartels’ longest stint out of the game in his whole career. In the past, he’s only suffered “a few knocks and scrapes”, as he puts it. He seems to have come out the other side full of confidence, for Bartels has the ball at his feet once again and barely thinks twice about his Achilles. “When I’m warmed up and playing in a training match, I completely forget about it”, explains Werder’s number 22. He has certainly left his troubles behind, but has still learnt to be cautious.
In this final stage of rehabilitation, he has managed to find the fine line between listening to his body and following his head, which desperately wants to get back in on the footballing action. “For ages, I’ve had to balance out football-specific exercises with building up my fitness. So I’m still lacking on my footballing focus at the minute, but I’ll be working on that a lot more now”, asserts Bartels. He’s already feeling comfortable on the pitch again, so let’s hope that his current, 274-day absence is nearing its end.
