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Justin Njinmah seems to be on the way to becoming a starter at Werder Bremen. The striker has been part of the professional squad since this season and on his debut against Mainz (4-0) he scored his first assist and a little later his first goal in the Bundesliga. On Saturday against Cologne (2-1) he scored the winning goal as a joker. Transfermarkt traced Njinmah’s path to the Bundesliga in September 2022. A look into the archive.
The fact that joy and suffering are often close together was shown again at Borussia Dortmund. On the 6th matchday of the 2022/23 season, several offensive players were out of action due to injuries, which is why coach Edin Terzic had to look for replacements for the duel with RB Leipzig. The 39-year-old found what he was looking for in the reserve, where he met Njinmah. As in May in Fürth, the 21-year-old striker was quickly promoted to the professionals and this time celebrated his Bundesliga debut in Leipzig when he came on in the 69th minute.
When asked what Terzic had told him before he was substituted on, Njinmah replied to the club’s own TV station: “Edin told me that I should just run and look for depth. I did my best, but it was a difficult game.” His first appearance in the German elite class lasted just under 20 minutes, he got the ball eight times. “I’m just overjoyed about the debut,” he said shortly after Final whistle.
However, because the game was lost 3-0, he had “mixed feelings”. On his Instagram channel he wrote about a day “that I will never forget”. It didn’t look like it would be enough for Njinmah to play in the German upper house for a long time in the youth sector. After all, the Hamburg native hadn’t even played in a junior Bundesliga.
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Njinmah spent most of his youth in the Hanseatic city at Eimsbütteler TV, which at that time was not yet in the top leagues of the respective years. It wasn’t until the age of 17 that he was drawn to Holstein Kiel and a youth academy. Loïc Favé has an answer to why Njinmah didn’t pursue professional football sooner. The 30-year-old was head coach on the sidelines at ETV at the time – and is now assistant coach at FC Basel in Switzerland. He previously worked at FC St. Pauli.
In an interview with Transfermarkt he said: “On the one hand, he developed physically quite late. On the other hand, he also needed time to develop an attitude towards competitive football and to mature as a personality.” Favé sees the right-footed player as a player “who is able to make the difference, above all through his speed.” That is a weapon , “which would cause danger at every level.” In a video published by Njinmah on Instagram, it can be seen in game scenes that what sets him apart in particular is his speed and his dribbling.
Favé believes that his former protégé was “not determined enough” in his actions. Today things would look different. “In recent years he has become more determined in one-on-one situations and has improved his finishing and his effectiveness in the final third,” says Favé. The assistant coach describes the type of player Njinmah is as “very special” and “intuitive”. These qualities came to the attention of Holstein Kiel in 2018, who brought in Njinmah for their offspring. With the “Storks” he initially played in the North Regional League for the A-Juniors, before he made the jump to the reserves and the fourth division the following year. The striker also trained here and there with the professionals – but it wasn’t enough for him to play in the first team.
With a move to Werder Bremen: Njinmah’s career is taking off
Njinmah aroused the interest of Werder Bremen during his time on the Fjord and moved to the Green-Whites’ second representation on a free transfer in the summer of 2021. With this step, his career took off – suddenly. After 18 games in the first half of the season with 14 goals and six assists, Werder did not hesitate to give the young player a professional contract in January. In order to enable him to take the next step in his development, a loan to Borussia Dortmund II was arranged at the same time until the end of the current season.
“He has consistently demonstrated his qualities and, above all, his goal threat in the regional league. And we definitely trust him to make the step into the professional team. The path to the 3rd league is a good opportunity for him to gain match practice at an even higher level,” said Clemens Fritz, head of professional football at Werder, commenting on the transfer at the time. Included in the deal: A purchase option for BVB, reportedly in the seven-figure range.
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TM user and BVB fan “Savarez03” is sure that Njinmah is “the striker with the greatest potential” in the reserve. This would be mainly due to his flexibility, as he can be used in all positions on offense. However, “Savarez03” doubts that the attacker will soon be seen in the first team again: “As long as we don’t have such bad luck with injuries again, I think the chances for him are rather slim.” That was already evident in the Champions League duel with Manchester City, for which the previously ailing Karim Adeyemi, Donyell Malen and Thorgan Hazard were back in the squad. It looked like this again in the Revierderby.
Former coach Favé says that the “much more difficult part” for Njinmah will only come after his debut. Back in the reserves, it would be a matter of “continuing to work on your issues in a focused manner, standing out through your performances and continuing to take advantage of the moments where you get the chance at the top.” Njinmah, who Favé attests to having “healthy self-confidence,” seems to agree with this , consciously. “If I continue against Zwickau in the 3rd league next week, I have no problem with that,” he said immediately after his first appearance on Germany’s biggest football stage. He followed his words with action when he scored the equalizer from the spot in Dortmund’s reserves’ 2-1 win against FSV.
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