Could Naby Keita be part of SV Werder Bremen’s Bundesliga squad on Sunday? Head of professional football Clemens Fritz gives an update – and talks about test player Kallum Cesay.
Werder’s addition Naby Keita increases the intensity. IMAGO/Nordphoto
SV Werder Bremen started their training week on Monday afternoon – with Naby Keita. The 28-year-old has been involved in the units for two weeks now, so far on a pro-rata basis. The Bremen athletic trainers continue to keep a special eye on the man from Guinea, who suffered an adductor injury around two months ago. They control his training intensity and sometimes take Keita out when things go into a tournament format for the other professionals.
“Continually increase intensity”
The midfielder is expected to increase his workload later this week. “We’ll see from day to day, we’ll continue to increase the intensity of the program – and then at the end of the week we have to assess to what extent he can tolerate the strain,” explains head of professional football Clemens Fritz. Could it possibly be enough for his first squad nomination next Sunday (3:30 p.m.) in the away game against 1. FC Heidenheim? In any case, you don’t want to rule it out – but you don’t want to put any pressure on it either. “You can’t say that he’ll definitely be in the squad,” said Fritz, “but it could be.”
Keita: “Getting a feeling” through short assignments
The international break was always announced as an approximate period for a comeback by the new signing from Liverpool FC. In any case, Bremen’s friendly against Borussia Mönchengladbach (1-0) last Thursday came too early.
In any case, there is currently a lot of competition for Keita’s position in central midfield: Romano Schmid, who has been playing strongly recently, was just as convincing as Jens Stage, who is finding his way around better and better. And Leonardo Bittencourt also scored a goal after coming on as a substitute in the 4-0 win against Mainz. First of all, Keita would only be considered for a Joker role. “He hasn’t played for a while, so we’ll first integrate him through short assignments to get a feeling again,” says Werder’s head of professional football: “But we won’t take any risks with that.”
Test player Cesay: “And then we’ll see what happens next”
And Marvin Ducksch was unable to make a reliable prediction on Monday as to whether the attacker would be able to play again in Heidenheim. Against Mainz, the 29-year-old had to be substituted early after 23 minutes due to a thigh injury. On Monday he was at least able to train individually on the pitch again – we just have to wait and see.
Meanwhile, Werder is currently testing 21-year-old Kallum Cesay, who played for Tottenham Hotspur’s U21s until last season, in training. “He can be used flexibly and can play both defensively and in midfield. We already know him to a certain extent and now want to get an idea with live impressions. The personnel fit well during the international break,” explains Fritz. The four-time national player from Sierra Leone is scheduled for the sessions on Monday and Tuesday. “And then we’ll see what happens next,” said the 42-year-old.
Alternative to Weiser? Fritz strengthens Agu
Cesay has been without a club since this summer and would be another alternative for the right wing, which was extremely thinly staffed by Mitchell Weiser in the previous season. However, in this matter, Fritz also refers to the return of the long-term injured Felix Agu – and emphasizes: “That has nothing to do with the fact that it will take longer for him. We want to continue to strengthen and build Felix up.”
2023-09-11 14:59:49
#Heidenheim #time #Werder #squad #Keita #ready
