Union spent over three million euros on Tymoteusz Puchacz. Most recently he was loaned to Trabzonspor Photo: Mathias Renner
By Sebastian Karkos
Will he really get a chance at Union next season? Tymoteusz Puchacz (23) returns to Berlin after his six-month loan to Trabzonspor. That’s the plan. But the left-back still seems skeptical about his future in Köpenick (contract until 2025).
Puchacz on Monday with the Polish national team: “I want to be at a club where I play regularly. The national team is the most important thing, I want to go to the World Cup.”
Union loan Tymoteusz Puchacz (left) became champion with Trabzonspor Photo: picture alliance / Photoshot
With the Irons, he only made five appearances in the Conference League in the first half of the 2021/22 season. He waited in vain for his Bundesliga debut. Also because Niko Gießelmann (30/contract until 2023) played a good season. The fact that the club bosses took the clubless Bastian Oczipka (33) for the left side at the end of August 2021 was anything but a vote of confidence for Puchacz.
Union coach Urs Fischer (left) and manager Oliver Ruhnert hope for Puchacz Photo: dpa
But he has now heard the signals from Berlin: “There were representatives from Union in Trabzon. I heard that they are happy with the loan and see that my behavior on the pitch has changed.”
Above all, he had to work on the defensive. That’s what he seems to have done: “Playing regularly for six months showed that I’ve developed as a footballer. At Trabzon I had a lot of defensive tasks.”
And in the end he was successful. He made nine appearances in the Süper Lig and even celebrated the Turkish championship.
1.FC Union Berlin
So will everything get better at Union in the second attempt? Puchacz knows: “It is also a signal that the contract of a left-back has not been extended.”
Right. Oczipka was dismissed. So remains – as of now – a duel with Gießelmann. Just like in summer 2021.
