Deniz Undaz is receiving special attention before the game in Stuttgart against SV Werder Bremen, and not just because of his goal tally. Where he was once deemed not good enough.
Didn’t get a call to stay in Bremen: VfB newcomer and goalscorer Deniz Undav. IMAGO/Press photo Baumann
Deniz Undav, born in Achim just outside the city of Bremen, played youth football at the SV Werder youth academy for five and a half years – until he was almost 16 years old and couldn’t continue there. He was sorted out.
Undav still found his way to the Bundesliga, via many detours in the lower divisions (TSV Havelse, Eintracht Braunschweig II, SV Meppen), via Belgium (Royale Union Saint-Gilloise) and England. He is currently on loan from Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albian to VfB Stuttgart, where he is attracting more and more attention after seven goals in nine Bundesliga games despite great internal competition for goals (Serhou Guirassy). Even nationwide: national coach Julian Nagelsmann should at least take a closer look…
“Respect, you have to say that”
Given his beginnings at Werder, Undav’s personality was also increasingly discussed in Bremen ahead of the Bundesliga game on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m., LIVE! on kicker). “I think there have always been stories like this in the past – and there will always be them in the future,” said head of professional football Clemens Fritz about the 27-year-old’s relatively late start to his professional career. “If you look at it, it wasn’t the usual path he took – respect for that, you have to say that.”
Already met with former club Meppen in a test match at the Bremen training station in 2018: Deniz Undav (Werder legend Claudio Pizarro at the back). imago/Werner Scholz
Undav, a “so-called late starter”
It has now been over eleven years since Undav was sent away from Bremen. Fritz was still an active Werder professional at the time, so he “couldn’t evaluate what happened back then.” The 42-year-old certainly gives him credit for the fact that the current Stuttgarter continued to pursue his goal by “taking a detour, pushing through it and not losing faith in his own performance.” “Especially when you get a message that you have to leave the performance center.”
Some players are “so-called late starters,” explained Fritz.
Was the club perhaps considering a return to Werder, as Niclas Füllkrug was a permanent candidate for a change last summer? “Of course we knew him from his time in Belgium when he moved to England,” said the Bremen professional boss. “But for us it was the case that we first had to wait and see what actually happened.” With Dawid Kownacki, Justin Njinmah and Nick Woltemade, there was “not a huge need” in the Werder attack – and when Füllkrug only moved shortly before the transfer deadline, according to Fritz, “we no longer had to deal with him at that point.” Undav had long since landed in Stuttgart.
“No silver bullet” against Undav and Guirassy
How do you defend the striker on Saturday evening? Especially since he will play together with Bundesliga goal scorer Guirassy (15 goals in ten games, only Harry Kane has more), as VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß openly announced. “As the result of the two shows, this is a question that many teams have asked themselves this year and it’s probably not that easy to find an answer,” explained Werder head coach Ole Werner in view of the combined number of goals Stuttgart storm duos from: 22.
“They have very different qualities,” emphasized the 35-year-old. Werner particularly mentioned the requirement of collective defense as a “rough framework”: “Otherwise, as always with players like this, there is no one panacea – it will only work as a team.”
2023-11-30 15:25:51
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