Max Kruse will leave Werder Bremen in summer. This was confirmed by the Bundesliga club on Friday.
“We have always stressed that we would have liked to continue working with Max. However, he has decided to look for a new challenge after three years. We respect this wish,” said Werders Sports Director Frank Baumann.
“I played for the club for three years with great pleasure and was proud to lead the team as captain in the end – that will remain in my memory forever,” Kruse is quoted on the Werder homepage.
Kruse moved from VfL Wolfsburg to Bremen in 2016. For Werder, he scored 84 times in the Bundesliga and scored 32 goals. His contract expires this summer. The club has not announced where the striker wants to go.
Kruse had always expressed the wish to play in the Champions League. Werder also missed this goal in this season, also the participation in the Europa League seems unlikely. Baumann emphasized that the club now has planning security and “a strong squad also in the coming season”.
With Niclas Füllkrug Werder Bremen has already engaged an attacker for the coming season. The former Bremen resident returns from Hanover 96 to the Weser for 6.5 million euros.
Baumann thanked Kruse. He had “shaped this club over the last three years, given the team a face and made a decisive contribution to the development of the club”.
Coach Florian Kohfeldt is also enthusiastic about Kruse: “Max is an outstanding player who has demonstrated impressively and in an exemplary manner over the past three years how valuable he can be for a team. My relationship with him was also characterized by a high level of trust, which perhaps goes beyond a normal coach-player relationship. I wish Max all the best for the future.”
At which club Kruse will spend this, is still unclear. Recently there have been rumours of a change to AS Roma. According to Sky Sports, Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan are also interested in Kruse.
