Football-Bundesliga - After the school semester: Kemlein presses into Union's midfield
Aljoscha Kemlein will make an impact at his home team 1. FC Union Berlin in the Bundesliga after his six-month loan at former second-division football club FC St. Pauli. "I will fight for my place in the team," said the 19-year-old midfielder in the training camp in Austria, "I will give everything to show the coach the best of me."
Kemlein played 17 games for the promoter in the last round and gained many experiences and self-confidence - especially thanks to St. Pauli trainer Fabian Hürzeler. "The training was very intense and long, very challenging. The coach introduced new ideas that I didn't know before," said Kemlein, "also the solutions he gave us for the games, they stay in my head. You can transfer that. The second league helped."
Quick goodbye to St. Pauli
A quick goodbye to the Hamburgers is already scheduled for the second matchday, when Union welcomes St. Pauli at Stadion An der Alten Försterei on the last weekend of August - without trainer Hürzeler, who has switched to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League, and without former Unioner Marcel Hartel, who has joined St. Louis in the USA. "St. Pauli should not be written off just because two heads are gone," warned Kemlein, who sees himself as a box-to-box player but also enjoys having the ball at his feet.
Kemlein himself wants to assert himself in the tough competition in the midfield and thus also fulfill the wish of President Dirk Zingler, who had demanded that the multiple junior national player be integrated as Union's own talent into the first team. The requirement motivates Kemlein, who has also taken on a business administration study alongside that. "That's what every little boy dreams of, to play in men's football," said Kemlein, but added immediately: "In the end, it's the coach who decides."
- Kemlein's loan period at FC St. Pauli, a club known for its strong fan base in the heart of Hamburg, has come to an end.
- In the upcoming Bundesliga season, he will be joining Forces Union Berlin, another renowned soccer club based in Berlin's Lengthfeld.
- Kemlein's new teammate, Fabian Hürzeler, who had previously coached him at FC St. Pauli, has now moved to England's Premier League, joining Brighton & Hove Albion.
- Union Berlin will be welcoming Kemlein's former club, FC St. Pauli, in their second matchday of the season at Stadion An der Alten Försterei.
- Despite the departures of Hürzeler and Marcel Hartel to Brighton & St. Louis, respectively, Pauli should not be underestimated, as warned by Kemlein.
- As a versatile midfielder with a preference for a box-to-box style of play but also with an affinity for ball possession, Kemlein aims to carve out his spot in Union Berlin's competitive midfield.
- During his time at FC St. Pauli, Kemlein undertook advanced training camps in Austria, where he gained valuable experiences and confidence, as well as learning new coaching techniques from trainer Hürzeler.
