The Green Whites are on their way to the English capital, and young talent Ousman Manneh is with the first team as they travel to their next international friendly. The 18-year-old...
The Green Whites are on their way to the English capital, and young talent Ousman Manneh is with the first team as they travel to their next international friendly. The 18-year-old...
The Green Whites are on their way to the English capital, and young talent Ousman Manneh is with the first-team squad as they travel to their next international friendly. The 18-year-old, who has only been at SV Werder for five months now, is getting the chance to "prove himself against a top international opponent", as assistant manager Torsten Frings explained.
On Tuesday "Ous, as his team mates like to call him, scored four goals in 15 minutes against SV Wilhelmshaven, but next up he faces the tougher test of West Ham United, who are currently competing in the Europa League qualifying round. "He scored a few screamers, that makes us very happy for him," expressed U23s coach Alexander Nouri. That said, his trainer is adamant that: "we will not ahead of ourselves, but continue to develop and build him up patiently and slowly." Sporting director Thomas Eichin also emphasised: "We will bring him through carefully and develop him further."

The next step on this journey for him is the tough test against West Ham United. The match at the Boleyn Ground kicks off on Sunday, 2nd August at 16:00 CEST and will be shown live on WERDER.TV. Levin Öztunali, who is currently nursing a knee problem, as well as Alejandro Gálvez, Cedrick Makiadi (both with thigh injuries) and Zlatko Junuzovic, who had a wisdom tooth removed earlier this week, are all unavailable for selection for the friendly, though the Austrian was able to train on Saturday despite not flying "to the island".
The weekend's match also comes too soon for Philipp Bargfrede. The defensive midfielder is hoping - just like young goalkeeper Michael Zetterer, who is recovering from a broken wrist - to be fully fit to return to full training at the start of next week. In addition to the aforementioned players, Raphael Wolf, Santiago Garcia, Özkan Yildirim and Melvyn Lorenzen are also all missing as they continue their recovery from their injuries. It remains unknown exactly when they will be able to return to full training. Some good news, however, is that Izet Hajrovic has returned to training after recovering from his knee and foot injuries.
The 19 players who travelled to London include:
Wiedwald, Husic - Lukimya, Vestergaard, Fritz, Hajrovic, Pavlovic, Kroos, Zander, U. Garcia, Ujah, Bartels,Gebre Selassie, Hüsing, Grillitsch, Eggestein, Sternberg, Fröde und Manneh.
