New Stalteri Transfer Rumour

[Grizzly]

After the Schalke and english rumours, the latest one from an italian website is that Sampdoria Genua is interested in him. They are currently in 6th place in Italy, a UEFA spot, and still in the running for a Champion's League qualification spot. Source of rumour:

http://www.calciomercato.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=75449

[Grizzly]

Article in German on Stalteri and teammate Magnin whose contracts both expire at the end of the season and are now in Turkey training with Werder. Not much new information other than both are confident in their own abilities and believe they will be able to maintain their starting spot despite the return of several players from injury. Stalteri is apparently "flirting" with an english club, sees no pressure about the contract situation but says he is willing to negotiate with Bremen if they want to initiate discussions. The comments from the posters on the German forum where I saw this article are interesting in that while they are divided on whether Magnin should be resigned they are unanimous in the opinion that WB should try to resign Stalteri. Stalteri was once highly criticized in Germany for not being the most technically gifted player but the opinion of his abilities has steadily improved over the last couple of years. This year I think many were surprised that he won back his starting job after some fairly big name new signings by Werder for the Champion's League and have been impressed by his play so far this season.

Stalteri und Magnin setzen auf die eigenen Stärken

Verträge laufen im Sommer aus - und der Konkurrenzkampf wird immer härter

Von Arne Flügge

BREMEN · Die nächsten Wochen werden für Ludovic Magnin (25) und Paul Stalteri (27) richtungsweisend. Ihre Verträge laufen im Sommer aus, beide stehen laut Sportchef Klaus Allofs "unter genauer Beobachtung". Dass mit der Rückkehr vieler in der Hinrunde noch verletzter Spieler der Konkurrenzkampf noch härter wird, macht die Sache für die beiden Werder-Profis nicht gerade leichter.

Doch bange machen gilt nicht. Beide strotzten vor dem Abflug heute ins Trainingslager in die Türkei vor Selbstbewusstsein. Magnin und Stalteri werden die zehn Tage in Bellek nutzen, um richtig Gas zu geben und die sportliche Leitung von ihren Qualitäten zu überzeugen. Andererseits wollen sie natürlich bald wissen, wie der Verein mit ihnen plant.

"Es wäre ein Riesenfehler, wenn ich mich jetzt unter Druck setzen würde", erklärt Magnin. Als linkes Glied der Viererkette heißen seine Konkurrenten Gustavo Nery und Christian Schulz. Magnin: "In der Hinrunde ist es für mich gut gelaufen. Ich habe starke Spiele gemacht. Daran will ich anknüpfen und sogar noch besser werden."

Ein erstes Vertragsgespräch habe es auch bereits gegeben. "Werder hat meinem Berater Wolfgang Föge signalisiert, dass sie den Vertrag grundsätzlich verlängern wollen", sagt der Schweizer: "Jetzt müssen wir abwarten, wie es weitergeht. Ich will weiter zeigen, was ich kann. Alles andere ergibt sich dann von allein." Die sportliche Perspektive sei ihm dabei wichtig. "Das Finanzielle kommt bei mir an zweiter Stelle. Ich habe nach meinen vielen Verletzungen wieder Geschmack am Fußball bekommen. Daher ist es für mich von Bedeutung, was Werder mit mir vor hat", sagt Magnin. Und stellt klar: "Kein Spieler verlängert, um nur auf der Bank zu sitzen."

Im türkischen Belek, so glaubt Magnin, werde es keine tiefergreifenden Vertragsgespräche geben. "Ich habe alles an meinen Berater abgegeben. Ich will mich im Trainingslager ganz auf meine Arbeit konzentrieren."

Gleiches gilt für Paul Stalteri. "Wenn der Verein im Trainingslager auf mich zukommt, wäre ich natürlich gesprächsbereit. Es liegt aber in der Hand des Clubs. Ich will mich gezielt auf die Rückserie vorbereiten." Auch der Kanadier verspürt angesichts seines auslaufenden Vertrages keinen besonderen Druck. "Es ist eine ganz normale Vorbereitung. Ich habe in der Hinrunde ordentliche Leistungen gezeigt und viele Spiele bestritten. Wenn ich weiter konstant spiele, werde ich auch in der Rückrunde dabei sein", ist sich Stalteri sicher. Auch wenn seine Mitstreiter auf der rechten Seite der Viererkette Petri Pasanen und Ümit Davala heißen. Stalteri: "Konkurrenzkampf kann sich nur positiv auswirken."

Das wird Thomas Schaaf gerne hören. Und der Werder-Trainer hat gestern angekündigt, während der Vorbereitung in Belek trotz der auslaufenden Verträge kein besonderes Auge auf Magnin und Stalteri zu werfen: "Wir werden mit den beiden die gleiche Arbeit absolvieren wie mit jedem anderen Spieler auch. Alles andere wird sich dann Stück für Stück ergeben."

Quelle: Kreiszeitung.de

Beide Spieler sind ablösefrei und kämpfen um einen neuen Vertrag. Stalteri hatte zwischenzeitlich mit einen englischen Verein geflirtet. Beide sind Nationalspieler und sicherlich auch für andere Vereine interessant.

[Paddy]

Just a feeling, but I would rather see him in England. Italy is notorious for bringing out the worst in players who transfer there. I think Paul is more suited to the English game.

[Free kick]

I am sure that there are pluses and minus to both. Playing in England would give Paul more recognition in Canada. But on the other hand, I noticed that foreign players who go to England often end up underperforming at the international level and specifically at the World Cup. Some have said that the physical demands of the English game and the crowded fixtures are to blame.

Every four years when the World Cup rolls around, you always hear of many highly touted players to keep an eye on. Yet in many cases, it is those who play professionally in England who end up underachieving or looking tired or worn out. Consequently, it is those players who play in Italy or elsewhere ( Maradona, Platini, Hagi,Cannigia, Mattaheus, Klinsmann, Ronaldo, Zidane) who end up being the the stars. Furthermore, the sides with very few or no UK based players are those who end up winning it all. Theiry Henry is classic example to prove this point. He has never received the same accolades prior to arriving at Highbury. But his impact on French National sides was greater in 1998 (while at Juventus) than in 2002 (while at Arsenal). Similarly France had much more success internationally when they counted no UK based talent.

Having said that, Stalteri will be past the age of 30 ( 31-33) by the time of the next WC and WCQ.

[Ryan Keay]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

I am sure that there are pluses and minus to both. Playing in England would give Paul more recognition in Canada. But on the other hand, I noticed that foreign players who go to England often end up underperforming at the international level and specifically at the World Cup. Some have said that the physical demands of the English game and the crowded fixtures are to blame.

Every four years when the World Cup rolls around, you always hear of many highly touted players to keep an eye on. Yet in many cases, it is those who play professionally in England who end up underachieving or looking tired or worn out. Consequently, it is those players who play in Italy ( Maradona, Platini, Hagi,Cannigia, Mattaheus, Klinsmann, Ronaldo, Zidane) who end up being the the stars. Theiry Henry is classic example to prove this point. He has never received the same accolades prior to arriving at Highbury. But his impact on French National sides was greater in 1998 (while at Juventus) than in 2002 (while at Arsenal).

Having said that, Stalteri will be past the age of 30 ( 31-33) by the time of the next WC and WCQ.

While your point about players in England being exhausted for international competition is a valid debating point, Henry was at Monaco prior to the 98 World Cup, and Ronaldo is hard to use as a point, as he played so little leading up to WC 2002 due to injuries that it was likely irrelevant where he played.

Serie A has also had much less influence upon international competition in the last two major tournaments involving Europeans, with only Real Madrid bound Ronaldo being stellar from Italy in 2002.

Euro 2004, in addition, saw the top three goal scorers, Baros, Rooney and van Nistelrooy come from the Premiership. Looking at the Euro 2004 all-star team selections, the league breakdown appears to favour the English league as well:

England (8): Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Olof Mellberg, Frank Lampard, Milan Baros, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy

Italy (4): Gianluca Zambrotta, Traianos Dellas, Pavel Nedved, Jon Dahl Tomasson

Greece (3): Antonios Nikopolidis, Georgios Seitaridis, Theodoros Zagorakis

Portugal (2): Ricardo Carvalho, Maniche

Germany (2): Michael Ballack, Angelos Charisteas

Spain (2): Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane

Scotland (1): Henrik Larsson

Czech Republic (1): Petr Cech

While the last two major European involved competitions may be a small sample to look at, it does seem to imply that England is not as negative. As for Henry, its also worth noting his play in the Champions League isn't usually as stellar as in league play and was also frozen out at Juventus. Perhaps he's just more apt to play in an English style.

[Free kick]

However, I have not disputed the notion that there are very talented foreign players playing in England. That is supported by the fact that the EPL had the highest representation of players at last year's Euro tournamment. But in the end, it was the sides who had little to no representation in EPL who fared the best. Greece had only one player who played for Bolton and Portugal had only Critiano Ronaldo. Note that I am excluding the English side, but again, the players who shone at last years Euro event ( Asides from Milan Baros) were not those who play professionally in England.

Don't get me wrong, As I said there would be plusses for Stalteri to choose England over Italy. One that comes to mind is the fans. whom in Italy can be notoriously harsh and fickle. But as far as preparation for the international game, I would like to see more players from our MNT pool play professionally outside the UK. Specifically, a more balanced representation.

[Ryan Keay]

quote:Originally posted by Free kick

However, I have not disputed the notion that there are very talented foreign players playing in England. That is supported by the fact that the EPL had the highest representation of players at last year's Euro tournamment. But in the end, it was the sides who had little to no representation in EPL who fared the best. Greece had only one player who played for Bolton and Portugal had only Critiano Ronaldo. Note that I am excluding the English side, but again, the players who shone at last years Euro event ( Asides from Milan Baros) were not those who play professionally in England.

Don't get me wrong, As I said there would be plusses for Stalteri to choose England over Italy. One that comes to mind is the fans. whom in Italy can be notoriously harsh and fickle. But as far as preparation for the international game, I would like to see more players from our MNT pool play professionally outside the UK. Specifically, a more balanced representation.

Id say having double the representation in the Euro 2004 all star team would suggest that English league players can and do perform well in International competition.

Likewise, how many Greek and Portugese players actually played in Italy, or Spain or Germany? And how many of the stars of the last tournament played in those leagues? Rooney and Baros were both standouts from England. Dellas and Nedved in Italy, . By and large, the Greek players played in Greece, and Portugese played in Portugal. The Greeks who played in Italy didn't actually play for their club sides for the most part.

I think the most important thing to note about these successful teams, is that by and large, most of the players for Greece and Portugal played in leagues with a similar style to their national team, making that transition much easier. You can state that about most of the overachieving national sides in the last two major competitions. Countries such as Senegal, South Korea, Germany and the United States had their players largely in one league. Its also notable that France seemingly fell apart once most of its players began to go abroad.

That being said, what about England, Spain and Italy? These teams seem to fall into this category as well. It is also notable that these countries have almost exclusively had complete domestic domination tending to leave things a bit stale. I don't think its a coincidence that Englands fortunes have changed since bringing in a foreign coach with some new ideas. England has also began to improve since the setback which Heysel and the subsequent ban caused, which weakened its league heavily. Spain is difficult to explain, I can only say that it typically does underperform at the national level. As for Italy, I think its near misses have been well documented.

How does this all fit in with Canada though? I think just looking at our last two coaches, who looked best under Holger and who looked best under Yallop? Players in the German league, and others with similar styles (Swiss, notably) seemed to thrive under Holger (Stalteri, Tam, Imhof, de Guzman). Under Yallop, the new, impressive faces on the international scene largely came from North America (Grande, Serioux, Gervais... even favourite whipping boy Watson was quite solid under Yallop), many players who were not impressive or given a look under Holger. While one could argue this a selection issue, its another way of looking at this issue.

[Free kick]

Your quote:"Players in the German league, and others with similar styles (Swiss, notably) seemed to thrive under Holger (Stalteri, Tam, Imhof, de Guzman). Under Yallop, the new, impressive faces on the international scene largely came from North America (Grande, Serioux, Gervais... "

Good Point.

[Canuck Oranje]

I think, at this point, where Stalteri plays is trivial as long as it is in a "Big Four" league. Our biggest problem is getting more at that level.

[Loud Mouth Soup]

Where's Mrs. Stalteri when you need her, huh?

[beachesl]

Keeping discreet at the right time like the classy woman she is!

[Loud Mouth Soup]

Heh...

[beachesl]

just joking, mate, cheers

[Grizzly]

Two new Stalteri articles. Don't have time to translate them but a short summary: Both deal with the surprise that Stalteri was not back in the starting lineup last weekend after sitting out his yellow card suspension the previous week despite playing well during the first half of the season and being fit (also according to Kicker neither of the backs was particularly good in the game he sat out). The articles note the irony of playing in the middle of the week on a Bundesliga All-Star team and then sitting on the bench for most of the following Bundesliga game. This is in addition to the club not having approached him about signing a new contract yet. Stalteri states that his first choice is to stay with Werder and that he wanted the contract issue settled during last summer's training camp but the club has made no offer nor answered any of his inquiries about their intentions. The manager of Bremen gives a lame excuse about the team not deciding its personel for next year in February. Stalteri states that he is confident in his abilities to win back his spot (the article makes a joke about winning back his spots since he can play so many positions). The tone of both articles implies that the authors think the club is not doing the right thing with Stalteri which certainly is the feeling of most Bremen fans. It is certainly less than classy on Werder's part to not give any indication to someone who has performed so well for them both in the past and in the current year. Unless he gets his starting spot back soon and is given a new offer soon one would have to doubt the probability of him returning to Werder.

Weser-Kurier 03.02.2005

Kleiner Mann, was nun?

Stammplatz in Gefahr, Vertrag ungewiss - Paul Stalteri kämpft um seine Zukunft

Von unserem Redakteur Oliver Matiszick

BREMEN. Manchmal spricht Paul Stalteri von sich als dem "kleinen Mann aus Kanada". Weil er immer noch ein bisschen darüber staunt, was nach 27 Jahren aus jemandem geworden ist, in dessen Pass unter Geburtsort "Etobicoke" eingetragen ist. Und das ist eine Menge: vielfacher Nationalspieler für sein Heimatland, Double-Gewinner in Deutschland und einer jener Bundesliga-Allstars, die vergangene Woche das Flutopfer-Benefizspiel gegen die DFB-Elf bestritten. Nur bei Werder hilft ihm all das im Augenblick nicht so richtig weiter.

Denn nur wenige Tage nach dem Benefizkick in der Arena AufSchalke musste er sich in Bremen fragen: Kleiner Mann, was nun? Weil die Startaufstellung des darauffolgenden Bundesligaspiels gegen Rostock eine ungewohnte Enttäuschung für ihn war. Der Name Stalteri fehlte. Erst kurz vor Ende der Partie schickte ihn Thomas Schaaf noch aufs Feld, für ganze 13 Minuten.

Und das obwohl er fit war. Obwohl er, der Allrounder, seinem Trainer Möglichkeiten wie kein anderer im Team bietet, auf der linken wie rechten Seite, in der Abwehr wie im Mittelfeld einsetzbar ist. Obwohl er in den vergangenen Jahren durchweg zu den Werder-Feldspielern mit den meisten Saison-Einsätzen gehörte. "Ich glaube, dass ich eine ganz gute Hinrunde gespielt habe. Deshalb war ich schon überrascht, dass ich nicht dabei gewesen bin", sagt Stalteri. "Aber ich muss es akzeptieren."

Genauso wie er akzeptieren muss, dass er immer noch nicht weiß, ob seine Karriere über Juni 2005 hinaus eine Fortsetzung in Bremen findet. Das hatte er sich auch schon im Sommertrainingslager 2004 gefragt und auf eine baldige Antwort gehofft. Vergebens - ein halbes Jahr später ist Stalteris Zukunftsplanung immer noch ungewiss. "Ich warte immer noch auf einen Gesprächstermin", sagt er, "und Werder steht für mich dabei an erster Stelle. Denn ich hatte bis jetzt acht tolle Jahre hier."

Sein Ansprechpartner, Klaus Allofs, hat es dabei allerdings nicht sonderlich eilig. "Wir werden nicht im Februar den Kader für 2005/06 bekannt geben", stellt Werders Sportdirektor klar. Zumindest nicht den kompletten Kader. Denn um Fabian Ernst bemühte sich der Verein - vergeblich - bereits im Herbst, wenig später verlängerte er mit Christian Schulz und gerade mit Tim Borowski. Stalteri und auch Ludovic Magnin aber hängen in der Luft. "Die Spieler wissen, dass wir mit ihnen reden werden", ist alles, was Allofs dazu noch sagen mag.

Also übt sich Stalteri in Geduld. "Die Saison ist noch lang", tröstet er sich, "deshalb habe ich mir auch keinen Zeitpunkt gesetzt, an dem ich mich entschieden haben muss." In den kommenden Wochen geht es für ihn ohnehin erst einmal darum, seinen Platz (oder angesichts seiner Allround-Fähigkeiten vielmehr: seine Plätze) wiederzubekommen. Dass er es schaffen wird, daran hat er wenig Zweifel. "Ich glaube, dass ich bis Saisonende noch oft spielen werde", sagt er. Was dann mal ziemlich selbstbewusst klingt. Zumindest für einen "kleinen Mann aus Kanada".

Kreiszeitung 03.02.2005

"Ich glaube an meine Qualität"

BREMEN. In der Hinrunde war Paul Stalteri (Bild) einer von Werders Dauerbrennern - bei allen Bundesliga- und Champions-League-Spielen dabei. Doch in der Rückrunde kam der Kanadier bislang noch nicht so zum Zuge. Wie der 27-jährige Abwehrspieler damit umgeht, erklärt er im Interview.

?Gegen Schalke waren Sie gesperrt, gegen Rostock wurden sie nur eingewechselt - ist Ihr Stammplatz futsch?

!"Nein, der ist nicht weg. Obwohl ich nicht mit dem Trainer gesprochen habe. Aber ich glaube, dass das eine Entscheidung für dieses Spiel war. Ich gehe davon aus, dass ich mir schon bald meinen Platz zurückholen werde - hoffentlich schon Sonntag in Wolfsburg."

?Was macht Sie so optimistisch?

!"Ich glaube an meine Qualität. Ich weiß, was ich für die Mannschaft leisten kann. Das habe ich in der Vergangenheit schon oft genug bewiesen. Ich war nun mal für das erste Spiel gesperrt. Und in der Vorbereitung war ich sieben Tage verletzt, das hat mich ein bisschen zurückgeworfen. Aber jetzt sind Fitness und Form wieder da."

?Für Sie muss es besonders bitter sein, auf der Bank zu sitzen. Schließlich läuft Ihr Vertrag im Sommer aus. Sie müssen sich beweisen.

!"Das stimmt so nicht. Ich habe doch in der Hinrunde gezeigt, was ich kann. Dass ich mich jetzt Spiele nicht präsentieren konnte, macht mir keine Sorgen. An den Vertrag denke ich zurzeit nicht. Wir werden uns irgendwann unterhalten, noch haben wir Zeit."

?Bis zum Champions-League-Achtelfinale gegen Olympique Lyon sind es nur noch drei Wochen. Beschäftigen Sie sich schon damit?

!"Nicht viel, im Moment müssen wir erst mal in der Bundesliga unseren Rhythmus finden. Aber natürlich gucke ich mir Lyon im Fernsehen an, das ist doch unsere Pflicht als Profis."

[The Beaver]

I know there's been speculation as to where he might go, but do any of you have a sense of where he might be needed and where he could flourish? Would he be handled/treated better in the EPL? La Liga? Thoughts? (Maybe Milwall or Iswich? Just kidding--though with Ipswich looking good for promotion (knock wood) it might not be such a bad place for him. Mind you, he may flip JDV the bird again, which will likely not go over well at all.)

Forza Larry!!

[Grizzly]

New article about Stalteri under the title: Stalteri is slowly getting impatient.

Summary: Werder still has not contacted Stalteri about extending his contract. Stalteri would like to stay with the club but is getting impatient and says something must happen soon or he will have to look at other options (about which he did not want to comment). A comment from sports director Klaus Allofs from last week after the Lyon game which is pretty disrespectful in my opinion is given, "It is always demanded that we extend contracts but it has to be recognized that players must bring us further on an international level". (This was in reference to Stalteri and Magnin's play in the game and was rather unfair as the whole team played poor not just these two) Stalteri was bothered by this comment and says he had one bad game but can't understand one game being the reason for not extending the contract. The author then comments that Stalteri's opinion is correct and that if one looks at the complete Champion's League run he was one of their strongest players. In addition he has been one of the most consistent and most played players for Werder and this has been noticed by many other clubs.

My take on this and other things I have read recently but not posted is that I doubt Stalteri is going to receive a good offer from the club if one at all. They might offer him an extension at the same wage but unless he absolutely wants to stay in Bremen he could probably get a much better salary and more respect elsewhere. The club has really treated him poorly in my opinion whether they want to extend his contract or not. They at least should make their intention known. The Werder fans on forums are almost uniformly in favour of Stalteri being resigned. I think the chances are good he will transfer to another team next season at which point Bremen may find out how much they could have used him. The situation is even less understandable considering Bremen just excercised an expensive buy option on striker Mohamid Zidan who has played very little since his transfer due to serious injury. He may turn out to be a good signing but strange they can spend so much on an unproven striker of questionable character while they don't even offer a modest contract to a guy who has performed well for them for years.

Stalteri wird langsam ungeduldig

Das Warten auf ein Gespräch mit den Werder-Verantwortlichen

BREMEN (kni) · Werder lässt ihn kräftig zappeln. Es gab noch immer kein Gespräch mit Paul Stalteri über dessen Zukunft beim Deutschen Meister. Dabei läuft sein Vertrag in Bremen im Sommer aus. Der Kanadier könnte ablösefrei gehen. Will er aber eigentlich gar nicht. Allerdings will er auch nicht länger auf eine Werder-Offerte warten. "So langsam muss etwas passieren", sagt der 27-Jährige. Dabei sei ganz klar Werder am Zug. "Das ist der Arbeitgeber, der muss auf mich zukommen. So ist das üblich."

Doch Werder wartet. Und dafür kann es nur einen Grund geben: Der Club ist nicht hundertprozentig von Stalteri überzeugt. "Es wird immer verlangt, dass wir Verträge verlängern. Aber dann muss auch zu erkennen sein, dass uns Spieler international weiter bringen", hatte Sportdirektor Klaus Allofs nach dem Lyon-Debakel gesagt - und damit auch Stalteri gemeint.

Das wurmt den Kanadier. "O.k., ich hatte in Lyon einen schlechten Tag. Aber wenn eine schlechte Leistung der Grund dafür sein soll, dass ich nicht bleiben soll, dann kann ich das nicht verstehen." Ein Blick auf die komplette Champions-League-Saison macht seinen Unmut nachvollziehbar. Denn auf Stalteri war in der Königsklasse fast immer Verlass. Im Hinspiel gegen Lyon gehörte er zu den besten seines Teams, glänzte sogar mit ungeahnten Fähigkeiten als Flankengeber.

Doch an Stalteri scheiden sich die Geister. Zum einen ist er der Allrounder und "Mr. Zuverlässig", zum anderen spielt er oftmals "Alibi-Fußball" und ist zu ungefährlich auf der rechten Seite. Trotzdem wurde er unter Trainer Thomas Schaaf zum absoluten Dauerbrenner. Kaum ein Werder-Profi spielte so viele Minuten wie Stalteri. Das hat auch andere Vereine hellhörig gemacht. Doch Stalteri wiegelt gleich ab: "Kein Kommentar!" Denn noch wartet er auf Werder

[El Hombre]

Nothing really new here but....

------------------------------------

Stalteri reveals Premier desire

by Simon Fudge - created on 16 Mar 2005

EXCLUSIVE

Paul Stalteri has admitted that he would love the chance to play in The Premiership, but insisted that he is happy to remain with German giants Werder Bremen.

The Canadian international is under contract until the end of the season with the Bundesliga champions and has attracted interest from elsewhere.

Despite expressing interest in playing in England, Stalteri told skysports.com that extending his stay with Werder would be one of his 'first options'.

"It's always been an interest of mine to play in The Premiership," Stalteri said.

"It's definitely one of the most attractive leagues in the world and it's definitely up on everyone's list, in terms of where they want to play.

"I'm in a situation where I'm playing until the end of the year because we haven't been able to sit down to talk about extending my contract.

"I've had eight really good years in Bremen. The team has become one of the best teams in Germany.

"I have no reason why I wouldn't consider Bremen as one of my first options, that's for sure."

Reports in the North West of England last week suggested that the defender may have been a target of former Manchester City boss Kevin Keegan.

However, the 27-year-old - who turned down an offer from Crystal Palace last summer - refused to comment on recent links regarding a possible move away from Bremen.

"I'm not going to comment on my future in the media," he added.

"It's a situation where I'm not prepared to say that I spoke to this club or I spoke to that club - that will remain private.

"I'm not denying nor am I confirming who I have spoken to. That's my situation right now."

[sstackho]

Man, I would have LOVED to have seen him at Palace.

You get to play a LOT of defense there.

[Grizzly]

Bremen signed German national team player Patrick Owomoyela for next year. He is a right side defender although he can also play midfield and many teams were interested in him. Doesn't look good for Stalteri at Werder next year.

[bettermirror]

yer funnt stackho, but in all seriousness - palace would have been a HUGE mistake.

[bettermirror]

owomoyela - doesn't exactly sound as german as say....Heinze!

[Desigol]

Does Stalteri have an Italian Passport? I assume so.

[Tim St.Pauli]

Owomoyela has nigerian heritage, but was born in Hamburg. Since he plays for Germany, many soccer fans call him joking "Uwe Moyela" to make it sound more German and as a reference to the other black German national team player Gerald Asamoah who has a typical old school German first name although he had no connection to Germany when he was born in Ghana.

I think now its about time to Stalteri to leave. There have been some articles in some German newspaper who argued that the Bremen wing players Stalteri, Magnin and Davala are the key to their lack of international class (loss to Lyon 0-3,2-7). Mostly they said whith these players Bremen is able to win one national title but not to conquer Europe or gain domination on the long run in the Bundesliga.

I would feel very sad when he leaves, specially after de Guz is also leaving the Bundesliga. But with a potential national team player on his position in the year before the WC he wouldn't only have to be 1% better than Owomoyela but rather 25% better to keep his position.

Only chance would be to move to the left wing and get Magnins spot, which I assume to be not unlikely since Magnin got more bad critics than Stalteri and one of Diesels biggest skills is his versatility, so he can also play left wing.

So I am hoping for that to happen because watching Bundesliga would be less interesting for me without Canucks!

[Ivan]

As much as I enjoy watching Stalteri and Werder Bremen play, maybe it is time for him to leave. He seems to be blamed for every Bremen loss (an exaggeration, I know) as he is benched for Davala each time.

Okay, he had a bad game against Lyon in the second leg receiving a Kicker rating of 6. But so did 4 or 5 others! I watched the entire first leg and he played quite well I thought. (So did Kicker which gave him a 2 or 2.5). Additionally, from what I read, his play in the Champions League against sides like Inter and Valencia was quite good.

Maybe time for the Premiership for Paul, although he still says his preference is to stay in Bremen.

[hottoddy7]

So in kicker a lower numerical rating is better? What is the scale? 1-10?