Letsch hints at starting role for journeyman Janko
One of European football's definitive journeyman may soon have a starting spot on one of Germany's top-tier sides, as reported by Kicker magazine's Oliver Bitter from VfL Bochum's training camp in Andalusia, Spain.
Gambian international Saidy Janko's current long-spell with the Bundesliga's VfL Bochum counts as his 11th separate club in his seventh different country during his exceptionally itinerant career. The 27-year-old Zürich-native has played in England, Scotland, France, Portugal, his native Switzerland, and Spain before arriving in Germany.
Signed primarily as a back-up utility defender, it came as little surprise to see him garner just seven appearances (two starts) in the first phase of the current Bundesliga campaign. Some developments at Bochum's January camp have nevertheless potentially gifted him a chance at cracking the starting XI.
Starting right-back Cristian Gamboa, one of the few remaining starters from Bochum's 2020/21 promotion-winning-side, has had to pass on some test fixtures due to an abdominal strain. VfL trainer Thomas Letsch declared himself impressed with Janko's performance in Gamboa's place and even suggested that he could displace the Costa Rican veteran.
"Saidy has quite clearly done well with his opportunity," Letsch told Kicker magazine's Oliver Bitter, "Saidy brings impressive speed with him and few get past him. It will be an open battle for the place on the right-hand-side."
Both Janko and Gamboa played in a recent test fixture against Grasshoppers Zürich, with Janko playing a full hour as the starting right-back. Letsch's predecessor Thomas Reis occasionally used Janko on the left-hand-side as well. Letsch only used Janko once, very briefly, in relief during a league fixture.