Berlin (dpa) – So far, Alexander Schwolow has caused feelings of happiness at SC Freiburg, now the 28-year-old goalkeeper is to lead the capital city club Hertha BSC into new spheres of success. “Hertha BSC has a long tradition and I want to be someone who is passionate about helping the club to develop again,” commented the former international junior player on his move.
Schwolow has played a total of 316 games for the Breisgauers since the U17, 125 of them in the Bundesliga. Born in Wiesbaden, he was still under contract in Freiburg until 2022, and in Berlin he will receive a “long-term contract”, as Hertha announced on Tuesday. The fee should be around eight million euros. City rivals Union had previously brought goalkeeper Andreas Luthe from FC Augsburg.
“In Alexander Schwolow we were able to sign a goalkeeper who exactly fits our requirement profile. At 28, he is experienced and has shown in the past few years at what level he can play in the Bundesliga,” said Hertha manager Michael Preetz . Schwolow should “fuel the competition” and “be strong enough” to be number one at Hertha, coach Bruno Labbadia had outlined the requirement profile.
In the past few weeks, the regular Freiburg goalkeeper had been associated with Schalke 04 again and again. After the not always convincing season performance of regular goalkeeper Rune Jarstein, the career end of Thomas Kraft and the departure of Dennis Smarsch to the second division club FC St. Pauli, Hertha was looking for a goalkeeper. “I want to be part of the foundation on which a positive future for the capital club is being built,” Schwolow is quoted on the Hertha website: “I am someone who is highly motivated, so I am very enthusiastic about my new job at Hertha on.”
Even after Schwolow’s commitment, the sports management is still looking for new staff for the coming season. So far, many names have been traded with Berliners, who have good financial opportunities thanks to Lars Windhorst’s new millions of investors. But prominent professionals like the Berlin-born Kevin-Prince Boateng, whose possible return to Hertha is refreshed in the media from time to time, do not have the first priority. “We want to build something for the coming years,” said Labbadia on Tuesday.
The trainer also praised the advantages of the current home training camp: “We can work optimally here, have good opportunities and top conditions on the site. Corona makes traveling difficult, the effort is too great for us,” said the head coach and added: “The team works extremely well and invests a lot.”
19 field players and three goalkeepers stood on the practice area in the Olympic Park. Lukas Klünter (back injury) and Pascal Köpke (muscular problems) paused. Arne Maier only completed one running unit. In contrast, Javairo Dilrosun was able to train with the team again. “We did a similar thing once in Wolfsburg,” said former VfL coach Labbadia about not going to an outside training camp.
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