Regular player in the Premier League
©IMAGO
On Tuesday evening, Werder sports director Clemens Fritz said after the 2-0 loss against Hoffenheim: “The transfer market is still open. I won’t rule it out. But there are no guarantees about it either.” Since then, it has been clear that central defender Amos Pieper will be out for several weeks – his defensive colleagues Maximilian Wöber and Niklas Stark are also missing. Now transfer reporter Fabrizio Romano reports that Werder is negotiating with FC Burnley about a transfer of Swedish defender Hjalmar Ekdal, whose contract runs until 2027.
The 27-year-old international was a regular for the penultimate team in the Premier League for a long time this season, but only played 16 minutes in the last three games. With a market value of 6 million euros, he would be the most valuable central defender in the Werder squad behind top talent Karim Coulibaly and captain Marco Friedl.
Ekdal would be the 8th central defender in the Werder squad
TM user and Werder fan “Ommsen” writes in the rumor mill: “Absolutely pointless! Unless the Wöber loan is canceled immediately! 1. There are enough IVs. 2. Steffen should finally play in the back four again. 3. Mbangula needs a position. 4. I can’t stand this lack of planning on the part of the management anymore.” The Swede would be the eighth central defender in coach Horst Steffen’s squad. Recently, Bremen were also linked with a return of Freiburg attacker Eren Dinkçi.
Ekdal moved from Djurgården to Burnley in January 2023 for a fee of 2.8 million euros and has since played 35 games for the English team. He played the second half of the 2024/25 season on loan for FC Groningen, for whom he appeared in 14 games. Werder has so far signed Jovan Milosevic on loan from VfB Stuttgart in this winter transfer window – cost: 650,000 euros. The young center forward is the seventh loan from Bremen this season. Romano’s report leaves it open whether Ekdal, the brother of ex-HSV professional Albin Ekdal, will be on loan or a permanent transfer.
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Fritz said about further activities: “In winter the market is not that easy financially. Things that are interesting and where there is a very high probability of being an immediate reinforcement cost accordingly. We are not going to do just anything. We are already looking closely at the market to see whether there is something suitable for us.”
