EURO 2008, three weeks holiday and a move from the ‘Steiermark’ to Bremen are now behind Werder’s new man Sebastian Prödl. Together with Werder’s second Austrian international, Martin Harnik, the lofty central defender began pre-season preparations along with the rest of trainer Thomas Schaaf’s men on Tuesday.
For the first exercise on Tuesday morning, the Werder players took to the ‘Spinning-Bikes’. “A few sprints, some mountain stages – the full programme. It was a good start for me,” commented Prödl, and continued: “Now I’m looking forward to getting on the ball.” Firstly the new man introduced himself to the team mates who he didn’t meet during a brief visit to the changing rooms on Monday. “Aside from Martin Harnik and Per Mertesacker, who I got talking to after our international friendly against Germany in February, I didn’t know any of the others.”
Following the second session of the day, which included a chance for Prödl to finally get on the ball, the 21 year old admitted: “It was clear to see that it was my first training session after a three week break. I found it difficult to settle into it but that will improve from day to day.”