After the opening defeat in the Bundesliga, many eyes from Hamburg quickly turned towards London. After the 0:2 (0:2) at Borussia Dortmund, HSV and many of its supporters are hoping for the return of Fabio Vieira.
One day after the deserved defeat, it is becoming increasingly clear: the Portuguese dream player will once again move from Arsenal to Hamburg - this time permanently. According to a report in the “Hamburger Abendblatt”, the 26-year-old Vieira has already arrived in the Hanseatic city to complete the usual medical check. The transfer deadline is this Tuesday.
“Fabio is a great player,” said coach Merlin Polzin before the Dortmund game on Sky. The creative player, who was on loan from Arsenal last season and returned to Great Britain in the summer, enchanted many HSV fans with seven goals and six assists in 31 games. The attacking midfielder is at the top of the to-do list of the Hanseatic transfer department.
Krüger: Vieira “would of course look good on us”
HSV is currently also interested in full-backs Arthur from Bayer Leverkusen and Zakaria El Ouahdi from Belgian first division club KRC Genk. But behind the scenes, the Hanseatic transfer makers have been working intensively for weeks on Vieira's return. As the “Hamburger Abendblatt” reported, HSV recently offered a little less than ten million euros for the 26-year-old. However, Arsenal want a buyer who will pay at least 15 million euros.
Sports director Kathleen Krüger confirmed before the game in Dortmund that professional football director Claus Costa was in London for talks. “This is an expression of the fact that we value Fabio very much,” said Krüger on Sky.
However, it is important to act economically soundly. “I can reassure every HSVer: We are working very intensively on the transfer market and are of course trying everything towards Arsenal London.” She confirmed: “Of course it would look good on us.”
Above all, the North Germans' weak performance in the first half at Borussia Dortmund made it clear that the club lacked creativity at headquarters. But also in many other things.
Polzin did not see the fact that a player like Vieira was missing as one of the main points of criticism. “Today it was less about whether a player like Fabio was in our squad or on the field like last season, but rather about completely different things in the first half that weren’t there,” said Polzin.
HSV was “too passive” in the first half, criticized Polzin. “With both goals we conceded you can see that we weren’t attentive enough and didn’t implement the things we planned to do.” In many statistical respects, the Champions League participants were clearly superior.
Lemke is one of the bright spots
At least in the second half, Hamburg appeared improved in the first season after the departure of the outstanding loan player Luka Vuskovic. "That's what we're taking with us from today: that we showed a face that I can identify with very well for 45 minutes, but not for 90 minutes," said Polzin.
He was also able to identify with the performance of 16-year-old Louis Lemke, who became the youngest competitive goalscorer in HSV's long history with his goal in the 3-0 cup win against third division team SC Verl during the week. And now Lemke made his first starting eleven appearance in the Bundesliga. “He definitely got better today simply because he gained experience. Because he realized what it means to play Bundesliga football,” said Polzin, praising the Hamburg native from his own offspring.
