Niklas Schmidt (24) sat on the field at Werders 2-0 in the training camp test against Real Murcia with his opening goal an exclamation mark. After the final whistle, he attracted even more attention with his remarkable openness.
Niklas Schmidt (centre) in the 2-0 win against Spain third division club Murcia
Completely surprisingly, Schmidt reported mental problems that had been with him for months.
Bremen’s midfield players: “I had big mental problems. If other people close to you are worried about you, you need to get help or family advice, even if you don’t want to hear it at the moment. I did this. I just want to clear my head and get my joie de vivre back.”
Mental problems: Werder-Schmidt gets help
Some time ago Schmidt first informed his buddy Romano Schmid, then his teammates and coach Ole Werner about his mental problems: “I just wanted to get rid of it. They were very open about it, so it wasn’t a problem for anyone.”
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Werder’s noble technician deals with the issue transparently because he feels responsible: “If someone has problems in football, they don’t have to eat it up like Robert Enke did. You should be open about it and ask for help. It’s no shame. Unfortunately, it’s still a taboo subject.”
Enke got help but kept it a secret. He does not know whether Schmidt is suffering from depression. The only thing that is clear is that the background of the illness are issues that have been working in him for a long time.
Schmidt: “I don’t know what it is in the end. There wasn’t that one trigger or moment when it all came crashing down. It comes from childhood, I’m working on that with my psychologist. I have a report about Bayern-Profi Pavard seen where he raised this issue. I found myself in it.”
Despite the psychological problems, Schmidt wants to make sporting headlines: “I’ll do my thing and try to meet the demands.”
