Football Season Guide

Bundesliga

Germany

Bundesliga

2015/2016

Werder Bremen

In

Aron Johannsson(att) (AZ Alkmaar), Anthony Ujah(att) (FC Koln), Ulisses Garcia(def) (Grasshopper Club Zürich), Felix Wiedwald(gk) (Eintracht Frankfurt), Mateo Pavlovic(def) (Ferencvarosi - End of Loan), Martin Kobylanski(att) (Union Berlin - End of Loan), Ludovic Obraniak(mid) (Caykur Rizespor - End of Loan), Oliver Hüsing(def) (Hansa Rostock - End of Loan)

Out

Eljero Elia(sp)(mid) (Feyenoord) Franco Di Santo(k)(att) (Schalke), Luca Caldirola(sp)(def) (SV Darmstadt - Loan), Nils Petersen(r)(att) (SC Freiburg - loan Made Permanent), Davie Selke(sp)(att) (RB Leipzig), Sebastian Prödl(r)(def) (Watford), Koen Casteels(r)(gk) (Wolfsburg - End of Loan), Richard Strebinger(sp)(gk) (Rapid Wien)

A brilliant second half of the season almost saw Werder Bremen secure qualification to the Europa League last time around and fans will be eagerly looking forward to the start of the new season which looks to be full of promise for Die Werderaner. Bremen endured a disastrous first half of the season under Robin Dutt and quickly found themselves at the foot of the Bundesliga table. However Viktor Skrypnyk's promotion as Dutt's replacement proved to be a masterstroke as the Ukrainian coach triggered an immediate upturn in fortune, with Bremen finishing just three points short of qualifying to Europe. With an excellent preseason under his belt, which saw Bremen fail to win just once and register impressive victories over Sevilla and West Ham United, Skrypnyk will be looking forward to his first full season in charge of the club. While Skrypnyk has managed to retain the spine of the side from last season, there have been a couple of significant departures on both sides of the pitch. Skrypnyk has had to rebuild his attack from the scratch with top scorer Franco Di Santo, Nils Petersen and Davie Selke both departing at the end of the season. Selke's transfer to RB Leipzig had been confirmed even before the season had been wrapped up while Di Santo was sold to Schalke and Nils Petersen left for SC Freiburg. Anthony Ujah is expected to start the season as the first choice striker for Skrypnyk while Aron Johannsson has also been signed from Dutch side AZ Alkmaar and will be proving backup for Ujah along with Melvyn Lorenzen who should see more minutes on the pitch this season. In the defense, Bremen will have to get on without Sebastian Prodl with the defender completing a free transfer to Watford while Luca Caldirola has also left the club on a free transfer. Skrypnyk though looks to be happy with the options available to him in the defense, with Assani Lukimya and Alejandro Galvez expected to compete for a place alongside Jannik Vestergaard. With Skrypnyk managing to hold on to majority of his first choice players from last season, the Bremen coach will be hoping that his side can challenge for a European qualification spot this season.

Target

Bremen have the quality to finish in the top half though Viktor Skrypnyk will be pushing for a European qualification spot