Maybe this time it really works. First the World Cup break should help, that was last December. Then came January, but there was still no trace of Felix Agu in training at SV Werder Bremen. He was just as absent from the preparations in Spain as he was in the weeks that followed. The reason: the problems with the patella tendon in the knee, they just wouldn’t go away. The ever-growing hope of returning soon was just as steadily postponed. But now, after a break of several months, the comeback of the 23-year-old could actually be near. At least in training.
If Agu was seen at the Weser Stadium in late autumn or winter, it was usually only as he made his way between the parking lot and the cabin. Where his teammates were kicking hard on the pitch, all he could do was get treatments and do special exercises in the catacombs. Most recently, the right-back has also appeared on the pitch again – still alone with the athletics coach, but the individual program should soon become a team one again. When? That is still uncertain. “It is important that he is doing better and that he continues to make progress in his rehabilitation process,” emphasizes Clemens Fritz, Werder’s head of professional football, who takes any time pressure out of the matter. “But I’m assuming that it’s timely, but without giving a specific date now.”
However, Agu is gradually running out of time. The Bundesliga season is over at the end of May – provided Werder, contrary to expectations, does not go to relegation detention. And after the complaints of the past few months, Agu of course needs everything but a cold start. Fritz knows that too: “When he starts training after rehab, we first have to see how his knee can take the strain.” comes back, the body still needs a while to warm up. There are tweaks here and there.” But Werder is prepared for that. “We will control the load precisely,” promises Fritz and encourages Agu: “Of course I hope and wish him that he will play again this season. I’m very optimistic about that.”