Sebastiaan Bornauw is suspended and Maxence Lacroix is doubtful. VfL Wolfsburg travels to the away game at 1. FC Köln with defensive worries. Now the man who coach Niko Kovac didn’t want to move to VfB Stuttgart in the winter is becoming important: Josuha Guilavogui.
Important again for VfL Wolfsburg at the weekend: Josuha Guilavogui (middle).
IMAGO/Christian Schroedter
Josuha Guilavogui wanted to leave this winter, the 32-year-old makes no secret of that. “Everyone knows that I would have liked to switch to VfB Stuttgart,” said the veteran recently in a kicker interview. However, VfL insisted on sticking to the contract of their midfielder, which expired in the summer, and coach Niko Kovac in particular vehemently vetoed a change. “You can see how much we need him,” he said at the end of January. “Why should I hand someone over now? That doesn’t make sense, we have goals.” For the Guilavogui is needed on the pitch especially when there is a need. Like possibly on Saturday (3.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker) at 1. FC Köln.
Kovac: “… then the decision was the right one”
There is a bottleneck for Kovac in defense – which Guilavogui would have to fix. “As a coach,” says the 51-year-old, “you always have to think a bit ‘worst case’ or think two or three chess steps ahead.” He did that with a view to his defensive center, which is quantitatively sparsely manned with regular central defenders Sebastiaan Bornauw, Maxence Lacroix and Micky van de Ven. And that’s why he didn’t want defensive all-rounder Guilavogui to change. Now Bornauw, the ex-Cologne player, got his fifth yellow card, the sick Lacroix was absent from the Wolfsburg training ground on Thursday. “We assume that Maxence will be there in Cologne,” says Kovac, but at the same time he is happy to have Guilavogui up his sleeve. Should he now have to play in central defence, “then the decision at the end of January was the right one”.
Guilavogui’s last starting XI? In the first leg against Cologne
A decision that Guilavogui took up in a highly professional manner. In the kicker interview, he recently emphasized: “I had good conversations with everyone, that was absolutely appreciative. VfL is my club, I’ve been here since 2014, so I can’t and won’t fight against this club.” In the league, however, he was last in the starting XI at the beginning of September – in the Wolfsburg 2: 4 in the first leg against Cologne. “I know my role,” emphasizes Guilavogui, “I’m okay with my situation. Nevertheless, I want to be important for the team. If the team and the coach need me, I’m ready.”
It could be so far on Saturday. Coach Kovac praises the Frenchman: “Josh does it really well every day.” For how much longer? The contract ends in the summer, and there have not yet been any talks about the future.
“We will sit down and find a solution,” says Guilavogui. The coach seems to assume that the veteran will leave VfL. “The way I see him, he wants to play football.” Which for him Wolfsburg is usually only possible when there is a need for a man.
