Werder Bremen chief personnel executive Clemens Fritz has reacted to criticism leveled at himself and his administrative team by injured team leader Mitchell Weiser. The 31-year-old conducted an interview with Sky Germany at halftime during the Saturday’s 1-2 home loss against RB Leipzig. Weiser brought up some of the same points raised by squad captain Marco Friedl at the beginning of the season regarding Werder’s poor summer transfer window.
On the occasion of Werder’s second reunion with former head coach Ole Werner (now coaching Leipzig), Weiser – who has not appeared for Werder this season due to an ACL tear – also questioned the decision by the club front office not to renew Werner’s contract last season. Kicker and Bremen’s Deichstube fan site both picked up the interview.
Both German sources revealed that Weiser – like his soon-to-depart club teammate Leonardo Bittencourt – sits on a contract due to expire at the end of the season. Weiser may soon be joining several other Bremen regulars (such as Bittencourt, Milos Veljkovic, Anthony Jung, and Marvin Ducksch) who have departed the club in the last 12 months.
Mitchell Weiser’s critique of Werder Bremen
“The club has lost that which it’s been striving for,” Weiser told Sky. “A lot of things have happened this year and last summer that I found questionable. We’re still mourning the loss [of Ole Werner]. We have to work on things and improve. I’m waiting for signals that we’re roughly headed back to the path we were on under Ole.
“I like it here and want to strive for something greater here at Werder than just fighting relegation,” Weiser continued. “With all due respect, we were on a great path [competing for Europe] last year and now we’ve put ourselves in a difficult position this year. Werder should be playing on the international stage and I’d love to be a part of that.
“This club needs to decide where it wants to go,” Weiser concluded.
Fritz reacts to Weiser’s criticism
“I only caught snippets [of the interview],” Fritz is quoted by Sport Bild as initially saying. “From my perspective, the statements he made are incomprehensible. I’ll nevertheless have to look at everything in its full context. I had an open and honest conversation with Mitchell just a few weeks ago. We made decisions last summer that were necessary and we continue to stand by them.
“I spoke about these and explained them to Mitch back then,” Fritz continued. “We wanted to rejuvenate the squad with new players and establish new values. Mitch knows that. It’s for that reason that I find such statements incomprehensible.
“I would have preferred it if he came to me first and spoke with me about it,” Fritz told Deichstube during a small media session on Sunday. “But I don’t suspect him of any ill will. We’ll have another sit down and talk again soon. I know that Mitchell has high standards. Everyone knows that. Once he’s fit again, he’s welcome to prove himself here.”
Daniel Thioune speaks on Weiser
“He [Weiser] has been hurt for a long time and now the question is whether we can get him back to match fitness over the next six weeks,” Werder’s head coach told Deichstube during the same Sunday media session. “If I feel he can help the team, I’ll be the last person to stand in his way.
“It’s best to focus on tuning out the surrounding noise and getting him back on the pitch,” Thioune continued. “I’m happy to have an ambitious player with big goals. He just wanted to underscore his ambitions with those points. We need to get him playing so he can show how valuable he is to us.“
