As already announced, SV Straelen has strengthened its team for the second half of the Regionalliga West: On Tuesday SVS Kino signed Delorge and Timo Mehlich. Both have strong references.
Delorge is a right-back from Belgium who signed the contract in Straelen on his 23rd birthday. He was trained in the youth department of the four-time Belgian champion KRC Genk, and he was also active in Romania at Dinamo Bucharest. “I’m very happy to sign with Straelen,” said Delorge: “At the beginning I had a very good conversation with Hermann Tecklenburg and Ben van Dael. The team and the coaches were very nice to me. I have a very good one with everyone Feeling. I did my best in a week-long test and I’m very glad I got the ‘yes’. ”
During his youth, Delorge went through all of Belgium’s national U-teams and even led the U17s several times as captain on the field. Most recently he was under contract with the Belgian third division club KSV Roeselare, now he wants to start with SV Straelen: “The quality of the training and the team is very good. I can’t wait to play. I know I’m the newcomer and I have to take a back seat for now, but I’ll work hard to get my chance here. “
Mehlich was drafted into the MLS a year ago
Timo Mehlich is at home in defensive midfield and played for Rio Grande Valley FC Toros, the second team of the MLS Houston Dynamos team, until December 2020. Exactly a year ago, the 23-year-old was selected in the draft by the Seattle Sounders champions and then traded directly to the Dynamos, which was no surprise to Mehlich: “It was already clear beforehand that I was going to Houston,” he said. Because of the limited number of foreign players who may be used in the MLS, he first played with the Toros.
Due to Corona and two injuries that “ruined my 2020”, he only played four games. Mehlich has been back in Germany since October and made contact with old companions: he still knows Straelen’s team manager Stephan Houben and trainer Benedict Weeks from days together at 1. FC Mönchengladbach. The aim was to simply keep fit in Straelen and then return to the USA. “I didn’t think big about it. I was just grateful for the opportunity to train at a high level again,” said Mehlich, who had barely stepped in front of the ball for a long time.
But then he just liked SV Straelen and he liked it too. In addition, the season in the USA will start very late due to the corona pandemic. Whether it will be a long-term thing at SVS or whether it will go back to the MLS, Mehlich is not yet able to say: “The most important thing for me now is to stay healthy, to get fit again and to find my old strength.” It is not yet clear whether he will be able to play against Alemannia Aachen on Saturday.
–
