Ukrainian defender Ivan Yermachkov talks about his transfer to the German club.
Ivan Yermachkov. Photo: werder.de
- In the summer, you changed from Wuppertal to Werder. Tell us more about the transfer.
- I will play for the second team of Bremen. They play in the fourth strongest division in Germany. They play there with duplicates of the first teams of the Bundesliga. The league is quite good. There are a lot of talented players there. In our group, there are second teams of Hannover, Hamburg, St. Pauli and other clubs. It's too early to make any predictions. I will still be involved in the training process. They are interested in me, they are watching me. There were three scouts from Werder's first team at the Euros. They saw everything.
- What other teams were interested in you?
- Freiburg and Schalke.
- Why did you choose Werder?
- It was the most concrete offer and the opportunity to get into the first team.
- How true is it that you could have gone to the training camp with Werder's first team, but chose the national team of Ukraine and the youth Euro?
- Yes, it is. I was supposed to go to Austria. A week before the training camp, Dmytro Stanislavovych called and said that the national team needed me. I could not do otherwise.
- Do they remember such names as Maksymov and Skrypnyk at Werder?
- Of course they do. They even call me "Skrypnyk". I give my best on the field.
- Are there any other Ukrainian players in the Bremen system?
- There are many guys in the Academy at the level of children aged 9-12. There are also the Solidarenko brothers. One plays for the U-15 age group, and the other for the U-14. Sasha Tkachenko, born in 2008, plays for the U-17 team. He shows great promise.
- You have been in Germany for two years now. How would you rate this time for yourself?
- Progress. Youth football in Germany is the strongest in the world. That's why there is a lot of competition, the opportunity to play against strong players, a lot of new things. All this helps you to become better and progress.
Serhii Tyshchenko
