Sonny Kittel or the Return of Someone You Almost Forgot | NDR.de – Sports

by Hanno Bud

Just a few weeks ago the 30-year-old had more or less finished his HSV class. He signed a very lucrative contract with the Saudi Al-Fateh club, the German-Polish Aghtani. The media reported an annual fee of €2.4 million. Ketil was already in agreement with the club from the Saudi Professional League and had already passed a medical.

Both clubs have already negotiated a transfer fee (€500,000). But then the change failed because the second division team was unable to find a suitable replacement for the noble technician, whose contract expires at the end of the season.

Only substitute players for weeks in the second half of the season

Then the attacking player returned to Hamburg at the training ground – and he had to line up. In the first eight matches of the second half of the season, compatriot Jessen sat on the bench. Ketel hadn’t even been substituted three times before he celebrated his return to the starting line-up in the 2-2 Fortuna Dusseldorf match on Friday and he knew how to convince. He made his return to the starting line-up against Hannover, played well again and scored his first goal in the second division since April 30 last year.

And also very important, as coach Tim Walter found: “1-0 was a bit of an eye opener.”

Walter: “He just catapulted himself out of there.”

The coach had already praised Kittel before dueling with 96 on the green clover. The 47-year-old said he was an “incredible player” when he was “happy”. It was evident from these words that Kittel had apparently lost this “joy” in the meantime. Because otherwise Walter wouldn’t have demoted one of the best football players on the team to “bank clerk” for so long. After the Hannover game, the HSV coach obliquely confirmed that the former emerging national player had to chomp down on the failed deal and his subsequent role as the ‘Joker’.

“Everyone understands what Sonny has been through in the last few months. However, I was hoping he’d come back from the stage sooner. We’re all so glad the time has come. We’re glad he’s out of there. How it works, that’s fine,” Walter explained.

Your Highness’s face of lost ascension

Keitel himself was silent on Saturday. After the match, he only posted a picture on his Instagram account, showing him in a jubilant pose after his goal. Many of his former and current colleagues liked the photo. They were all delighted for the man who had extraordinary footballing skills but was always the face of missed promotions in previous years. Because in the decisive stages of the season and important matches, the 30-year-old was mostly hidden.

You can blame him for not fulfilling the role he intended to play as a leader. Keitel himself was also disappointed. Last summer, he contemplated intensely about starting over in the USA. A move to D.C. United was imminent but fell through at the last second. “It just wasn’t meant to be like that, which I managed to deal with because my heart is also in Hamburg and in HSV,” explained the attacking man.

Glatzel: “He’s an indispensable player”

Even if such statements must be treated with caution after botched transfers, Keitel has shown in the first half of the season that his thoughts are not with his nearly-worked employer in Washington, D.C., but with HSV. He belonged to the permanent apparatus and contributed – albeit without his aim – to the fact that the Hanseatic League spent the winter in second place. This was followed by an offer from Saudi Arabia, which could not be refused on financial grounds, an HSV veto against a change and frustrating weeks on the bench.

past. Now, of all things, the hot phase of the season has begun, with Keitel always in a crisis of form in previous years, the 30-year-old seems to be becoming an important factor for Hamburg. “It’s great that he’s back where he matters now. He’s an irreplaceable player and one of a kind in this league,” said forward Robert Glatzel, praising the man who sat on his bag a few weeks ago.

More information

Results, standings and matches at a glance. more