Despite being injured again
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Shortly after his comeback, central defender Dan-Axel Zagadou from VfB Stuttgart was out again for a long time with a muscle injury. Since signing with the Swabians in September 2022, the 26-year-old Frenchman has already missed 73 games due to injury or illness. Coach Sebastian Hoeneß can still imagine an extension of the contract, which expires at the end of the season, and cites the long suffering of midfielder Nikolas Nartey (25) as an example.
“We had a similar case with Nartey. His contract also expired after a very long period of injury. And he is still there and very stable at the moment. That is a path that can also exist for Daxo,” Hoeneß is quoted by “Kicker”. Nartey moved to VfB in 2019 and then suffered several knee injuries, including cartilage damage, which kept him out of action for the entire 2023/24 season. In June, VfB extended it by one year until 2026. In the current season, Nartey is repaying the trust and has already made 15 appearances for the first team, three from the start.
Hoeneß continued to say about Zagadou, who according to the magazine is one of the top earners in Stuttgart: “For this reason and because of our shared history, we will sit down with him and his advisor in due time, especially the club management.” Sports director Fabian Wohlgemuth said: “We’ve recently seen what value he has for the team. So now we’re just making sure we get him back on the pitch as quickly as possible. Everything else will follow.”
Really fine guy and great player. But whether he will stay fit again in the long term is anyone’s guess.
I would wish so.
I hope we can agree on a VVL under suitable conditions. I don’t know where Daxo is in our salary rankings, but it will definitely be too much for his playing time.
Happy and speedy recovery, Daxo! …
When Zagadou’s injury was confirmed, Hoeneß said he hoped that the absence would not last that long: “We were at the point where we had the feeling that he was stable. The games and training sessions also showed that. That’s why we were hoping that he would get through well. Of course, you don’t expect something like that to happen. That caught us off guard.” But Zagadou “won’t be able to start training again next week, I’m leaning that far out the window.” With Luca Jaquez (22, thigh injury), Stuttgart is missing another central defender for a longer period.