Sargis Adamyan scoring against Kickers Offenbach. (Photo: IMAGO / Huebner)
Sargis Adamyan scored his first few minutes in the 1. FC Köln jersey last weekend. The newcomer played as a second striker alongside Anthony Modeste against AC Milan. The next day against Offenbach, the 29-year-old acted as a left winger and scored his first goal. Steffen Baumgart still doesn’t see the striker as set.
Sargis Adamyan is considered one of the most important building blocks for the coming season at 1. FC Köln. The cash-strapped club paid 1.5 million euros in installments for the Armenian’s services in the summer and gave the 29-year-old a four-year contract.
The former Hoffenheimer joined the FC entourage for the training camp in Donaueschingen almost two weeks ago. In the test matches against Austria Lustenau and the Grasshoppers from Zurich, however, Adamyan was not used due to a training backlog. Now the offensive player celebrated his first 75 minutes for FC against Milan and Offenbach.
Baumgart sees Adamyan still behind
Adamyan started alongside Anthony Modeste as a second striker against the Italian champions. Although the national player didn’t have a chance to score, in some situations he indicated his speed in particular. “If he gets on the train, it looks good,” Steffen Baumgart also praised the attacker’s appearance afterwards. Physically, however, you would still notice that the new signing was behind, which is why Adamyan’s working day was already over by the break.
The player finally came into play against Offenbach after an hour. However, instead of being in the front line, the reigning Belgian champions acted on the left half position. It was precisely this positional flexibility that particularly convinced those responsible of Adamyan. The newcomer showed shortly before the end on the Bieberer Berg that Adamyan also has finishing qualities in front of the goal: After a pass from Tim Lemperle, Adamyan scored to make it 2-0.
Nevertheless, Steffen Baumgart does not necessarily see his sixth external newcomer in two weeks at the start of the competitive game in the starting formations. In particular, because the two youngsters Tim Lemperle and Florian Dietz recently acted conspicuously. “When you see the performance of Tim and Flo, you can assume that nobody comes here and plays directly just because he’s new,” the FC coach made clear. Adamyan still has two weeks to work on his physical skills and integrate into the team. “But the strength is not enough for what we want to play.” Nevertheless, you saw in the test games “that quality can come.”
Liveliness is still missing
Adamyan himself was satisfied with his first two appearances for his new club on Sunday evening. “You can see that we’ve been doing well so far, but we still have a lot to practice to make things even better,” said the new signing after the 2-0 win against Offenbach. However, the intensive training week put the team in the bones, especially against the Kickers. “We have now done a lot of conditional work, there were strenuous sessions. Now we have to get the liveliness in,” explained Adamyan. “And then it can start.”
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