With his goal in the top match against Bayern, Janik Haberer made his mark again for a long time. The Freiburg midfielder is going through a complicated phase – and the former regular will probably not stay at SC for too long. His contract ends in the summer
The idea was a good one, but when it came to implementing it, luck was a factor. Janik Haberer wanted to put a vertical pass from Vincenzo Grifo past the opponent with one contact in injury time of the top game at Bayern. The ball bounced off Freiburg’s midfielder’s action to Munich defender Tanguy Nianzou, back to Haberer and into his path. The path was clear, a rich, half-high, precise finish next to the far post – even world star Manuel Neuer was powerless.
The goal to 1:2 came too late for Freiburg to take a point from Munich, but the scorer made a statement after a long time. It was Haberer’s first goal since February 2020 The 2017 European U-21 champion, who had been a SC regular for four years since his arrival in the summer of 2016, had flown under the radar of late.
“It was not an easy time, to which he had contributed his share,” says sports director Klemens Hartenbach. In a nutshell: Haberer had long seen himself called to higher things and announced in the dressing room that he would be leaving in the summer of 2020. There was confusion about the duration of his contract, internal irritations. A change did not take place. Above all because Haberer suffered a fractured fibula and a torn syndesmosis in June 2020, which was only communicated in October at his request. His status dropped significantly.
Haberer shows he can be important
After his rehab, coach Christian Streich used him 14 more times from January 2021 until the end of the season, but only six times for more than 30 minutes. According to Hartenbach, “impeccable talks” followed in the summer to work him up. Since then, the sports director has attested to his “super behaviour in the team”. Only: “The competitive situation has not developed in his favour, he is still an important building block, see the Bayern game,” says Hartenbach.
Nicolas Höfler, Maximilian Eggestein and Yannik Keitel are currently ahead of Haberer in central midfield. Record this season: Twelve competitive games, four times longer than 30 minutes. On Thursday, Haberer showed that he can continue to be an important member of the SC squad as the starting player alongside Höfler in the 2-1 test match victory in Karlsruhe. For example, he set up Freiburg’s first goal, got into finishing positions himself and helped to restore order to the SC game after a loud Streich command from the touchline.
Contract expires in summer 2022
Hartenbach would therefore also like to start the 2022/23 season in the current four-man constellation. However, he also knows that being the number four in the centre is not the aspiration of the man Horst Hrubesch believed would have a great career after winning the junior title in 2017. Which makes a departure in the summer of 2022 likely. That’s when Haberer’s contract ends, who is now no longer advised by his stepfather Dietmar Kohli, but by the USG agency, which represents the likes of Kevin Volland and Matthias Ginter, as well as Christian Günter and other SC pros.
As a release-free professional with the experience of 142 Bundesliga appearances (ten goals), Haberer still has a good standing in the market. Even if he has not yet regained the dynamism and top form of earlier days, he is interesting for some Bundesliga clubs or foreign clubs. His time in Freiburg would then come to an end after six largely enjoyable years. However, it was Sport-Club who took the most recent step forward.
