Kruse and Schmadtke speak on removal:
"I decide when my time in the Bundesliga is over."
By Peter Weis @PeterVicey
To the surprise of no one, Max Kruse responded quickly to his situation on his social media feed late Sunday.
Wolfsburg managing director Jörg Schmadtke waffled a bit when asked how the club planned to handle their expensive piece of dead-weight.
Wolfsburg managing director Jörg Schmadtke waffled a bit when asked how the club planned to handle their expensive piece of dead-weight.
Max Kruse. |
"After my two starts, this came as a surpris not only for me, but certainly for many of you," Kruse began, "I came to Wolfsburg last January to help the team and I think I did that during the second half of last season."
"I think everyone who knows me knows that I've always given everything for the club I've played for," Kruse continued, "not only at VfL Wolfsburg, but everywhere I've played professional football over the last twelve years."
"I think I'll decide for myself when my time in the Bundesliga is over," the 34-year-old concluded, "No one else decides that for me."
Kruse did get a tacit endorsement from his previous sporting director, Oliver Ruhnert of FC Union Berlin, earlier in the day. The player's current sporting director, Marcel Schäfer of the VfL, has not commented publicly yet. Thomas Hiete of German footballing magazine Kicker did manage to reach VfL boss Jörg Schmadtke.
Schmadtke didn't really have clear answers as to what the club planned to do with Kruse. The 58-year-old executive said that the club would "sort it out, but not on the marketplace". Presumably, this meant that a transfer during the coming winter was out of the question. Schmadtke nevertheless didn't rule it out, speaking of "bilateral discussions" on what the player wanted.
Kruse surely wants to play. Wolfsburg probably wants to get him off the payroll. Schmadtke downplayed the financial aspect of paying Kruse even when he can't help the team on the pitch. The boss even said that Kruse had "taken the decision like a man", would still be allowed to train with the team, and "probably wouldn't be disruptive".
"He's not robbing us blind," Schmadtke said when the topic of Kruse's paycheck came up, "Max helped us avoid relegation last year during the second half of the season with his [7] goals and [2] assists. Now we've made a decision that is important to us from a long-term perspective."