Scored winning goal against Bayer
FC Augsburg can rely on Mergim Berisha (24). Together with Ermedin Demirovic (24), the striker is the best scorer in the squad this season (each with 10 goals involved) and scored the lead against Leverkusen for the fifth time on Friday – most recently three times in a row. “Mergim scores the important and decisive goals, that’s great,” said sporting director Stefan Reuter after the game.
The 56-year-old also reported that Marcus Sorg, Hansi Flick’s assistant coach in the German national team, was there at the game. “It’s perfectly normal for Mergim to be somewhere in view,” Reuter said. Coach Enrico Maaßen, meanwhile, promoted the attacker, who switched from Fenerbahce to FCA on loan last summer: “I think there are few better nines that we have in Germany.” Based on the market value of 6 million euros, Berisha is one of them ten most valuable center forwards in Germany, only six are valued higher than the native Bavarian. FCA reportedly paid a loan fee of 300,000 euros for Berisha, which can rise to as much as 500,000 euros, and also secured a purchase option of 4 million euros.
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Berisha last played for the German U21 national team in 2021 and has been waiting for an appointment for the A-Elf ever since. The striker scored just one goal in 13 international matches for the U21s, but took important developmental steps in Augsburg. In the run-up to the 2022 World Cup, he was already considered a candidate for the extended tournament squad, but the yellow-red card in the win at Schalke (3-2) in October took him out of focus a bit. “He’s now in very good shape himself,” said sporting director Reuter, adding: “We knew that he had exceptional qualities in front of goal.”
When asked about a possible future in the DFB team, Berisha emphasized that national coach Flick decides who will be called up to the squad, “but of course I would be happy to be nominated”. He also said: “The only thing I can influence is that I give 100 percent on the pitch and get the maximum out of it.” At the end of March, two tests against Peru and Belgium are scheduled for the DFB selection. At first, Berisha was overjoyed that “I was able to help the team with the goal” in the middle of the relegation battle.
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