Football Season Guide

Werder Bremen are a team in transition this season with the club having parted ways with long serving coach Thomas Schaaf at the end of the last season. Schaaf was in charge of the club for 14 years but Bremen struggled for form throughout the last season and finished just three points above the relegation zone. Robin Dutt has taken over from Schaaf and will be hoping that he can get the side playing how he wants as soon as possible. Bremen will be missing two key players from last season with Kevin de Bruyne returning back to Chelsea after putting up a number of impressive performances while Sokratis Papastathopoulos joined Bayer Leverkusen. While there were talks about clubs being interested in Eljero Elia and Marko Arnautovic, Bremen have managed to hold on to the duo who are expected to provide the creative thrust for the side in the absence of de Bruyne. Bremen have also managed to turn Nils Petersen's loan into a permanent move from Bayern Munchen while Luca Caldirola was signed from Inter Milan as a replacement for Sokratis. Cedrick Makiadi may prove to be the key signing for Dutt with the 29-year old expected to organize things at the back and provide more freedom for Bremen's attacking talent, such as Mehmet Ekici and Arnautovic, to express themselves freely up front.