"Wolves" opener under Benaglio's gaze

VfL leadership figures at the start of training: Sporting Director Sebastian Schindzielorz, new Supervisory Board member Diego Benaglio, Chairman of the Supervisory Board and Executive Committee member Dr. Sebastian Rudolph (from left). IMAGO/regios24

With Tiago Tomas (on vacation after the U-21 European Championship with Portugal) and the injured Mohammed Amoura (thigh), players number 29 and 30 were missing, the remaining 28 in the extended squad for the new season were there when VfL Wolfsburg practiced publicly on the training ground for the first time on Wednesday.

The players had already gathered for internal performance tests on Monday at the start of the week, and now their first public appearance: a warm-up, followed by a lot of multi-goal football, interrupted by input from Paul Simonis at the tactics board directly on the pitch. In addition to the new head coach, his assistants Tristan Berghuis, Peter van der Veen, Pascal Formann (goalkeeper), Martin Darneviel (analysis), and Koen Stam (interim coach at the youth academy) ensured the smooth running of the event. Finally, everyone approached the approximately 300 fans for selfies and autographs.

After Nicolas Cozza was loaned out again to FC Nantes, there were at least two players among the trainees who will have no future in Wolfsburg: Moritz Jenz , who returned from Mainz, and Vaclav Cerny (after his loan to Glasgow Rangers).

Young striker Jonathan Akaegbobi , who may be available for recall, was no longer in the squad. Instead, full-back Jan Bürger (18) from the club's U19 team joined the lineup. A few convalescents initially trained in small doses: Yannik Gerhardt (meniscus) and Jonas Wind (foot) completed runs, while Rogerio (toe) took a step back and dropped out of the program before the end of training.

At the start, the protagonists also had to submit to the interested gaze of a prominent observer. Diego Benaglio, a new member of the VfL supervisory board, was among the spectators. After the first session, the now 41-year-old future "controller," goalkeeper of the 2009 VfL championship team and the 2015 DFB-Pokal winning team, held back from giving an assessment of the new coach, Paul Simonis: "One training session is not enough to judge that. What makes me very positive is that everyone who has already spoken with him has a very positive impression of him, and he embodies the team spirit himself. He places incredible importance on details and on ensuring that everything fits together."

The Swiss player was also impressed by the mood and atmosphere of the session. "The first thing I noticed was the dynamic; there was life on the pitch. It's important to me that you can feel the fire in the game. And that's the impression I had."