Moved from Union to Wolfsburg
A first version of the article appeared on Sunday at 9:57 a.m. and was updated after Urs Fischer’s reaction.
Striker Max Kruse explained his surprising winter move to VfL Wolfsburg with an apparently strained relationship with Union Berlin’s coach Urs Fischer. “I had a very intense and great time at Union, no question. But for me, the second year wasn’t like the first. I wasn’t as satisfied as I was in the first year,” said the 33-year-old late on Saturday evening in the “ZDF-Sportstudio” when asked about his relationship with Fischer. “It doesn’t mean that the relationship was completely broken or bad. But I imagined something different there.”
In his 23 seasons for 1. FC Union in three different competitions, he was substituted 18 times in the final stages. (To Kruse’s performance data in detail) “As an athlete, you always want to play from the first to the last minute,” said the attacker. He “didn’t understand some things the way others understood them.”
Update 3:58 p.m.: When asked about this, Union coach Fischer said on Sunday at “DAZN”: “Burdened? I don’t think so now.” The relationship wasn’t without problems, said the coach, adding: First Bundesliga, paid football, it’s “not a petting zoo”. It was about the minutes of the game, the substitutions of Kruse. “I’m not here, I’m not commissioned to fulfill wishes,” said Fischer. “You have to accept that he wasn’t satisfied with one or the other decision.”
Max Kruse’s performance data per team: From St. Pauli to DFB-Elf
100 games for FC St. Pauli (2009 to 2012)
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22 goals, 16 assists
*Note: Clubs listed by the number of Kruse’s appearances. Only the first team of each club considered.
Status: 2/9/2022
94 games for Werder Bremen (2007 to 2009 & 2016 to 2019)
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35 goals, 31 assists
77 games for Borussia Mönchengladbach (2013 to 2015)
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24 goals, 22 assists
So far 45 games for Union Berlin (since 2020)
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19 goals, 12 assists
44 games for VfL Wolfsburg (2015 to 2016, since 2022)
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9 goals, 12 assists
39 games for SC Freiburg (2012 to 2013)
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12 goals, 10 assists
23 games for Fenerbahce (2019 to 2020)
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7 goals, 8 assists
Neu-Wolfsburger Kruse: “I would have liked to have won the cup with Union”
On the penultimate day of the transfer deadline in January, Kruse switched back to VfL Wolfsburg, for whom he had already played in the 2015/16 season, for a transfer fee of around five million euros.
“The decision to leave the club (Union Berlin) in the summer had been made for a long time,” explained Kruse. “A main reason why I pondered for a long time: I would have liked to have won the trophy with Union. Also because I haven’t won a title yet. But I had to make a decision, I did that.”
With wind: The most expensive additions to VfL Wolfsburg
26 Andrés D’Alessandro | 03/04 by River Plate | Transfer fee: €9.5 million
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As of January 31, 2022
23 Jakub Kaminski | 22/23 by Lech Poznan | Transfer fee: €10 million
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Coming in Summer 2022
23 Ridle Baku | 20/21 from Mainz 05 | Transfer fee: €10 million
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23 Josip Brekalo | 16/17 by Dinamo Zagreb | Transfer fee: €10 million
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21 Wout Weghorst | 18/19 from AZ Alkmaar | Transfer fee: €10.5 million
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21 Obafemi Martins | 09/10 from Newcastle | Transfer fee: €10.5 million
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19 Jeffrey Bruma | 16/17 by PSV | Transfer fee: €11.5 million
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19 Landry Dimata | 17/18 by KV Ostend | Transfer fee: €11.5 million
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15 Max Kruse | 15/16 from Gladbach | Transfer fee: €12 million
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15 Luca Waldschmidt | 21/22 by Benfica | Transfer fee: €12 million
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15 Smellingly Bazoer | 16/17 by Ajax | Transfer fee: €12 million
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15 Jonah Wind | 21/22 from Copenhagen | Transfer fee: €12 million
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13 Yunus Malli | 16/17 from Mainz 05 | Transfer fee: €12.5 million
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13 Simon Kjaer | 10/11 from US Palermo | Transfer fee: €12.5 million
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12 Yannick Gerhardt | 16/17 from 1. FC Cologne | Transfer fee: €13 million
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11 Sebastiaan Bornauw | 21/22 from 1. FC Cologne | Transfer fee: €13.5 million
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8 Daniel Ginczek | 18/19 from VfB Stuttgart | Transfer fee: €14 million
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8 Ignacio Camacho | 17/18 from Malaga FC | Transfer fee: €14 million
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8 Andrea Barzagli | 08/09 by US Palermo | Transfer fee: €14 million
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7 Xavier Schlager | 19/20 by Red Bull Salzburg | Transfer fee: €15 million
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6 Diego | 10/11 by Juventus | Transfer fee: €15.5 million
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5 Luis Gustavo | 13/14 from FC Bayern | Transfer fee: €16 million
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4 John Anthony Brooks | 17/18 by Hertha BSC | Transfer fee: €17 million
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3 Kevin De Bruyne | 13/14 from Chelsea | Transfer fee: €22 million
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2 André Schurrle | 14/15 from Chelsea | Transfer fee: €32 million
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