When 1. FC Union begin their preparations for the second half of the season on New Year’s Day, the Eisernen will not only have to do without centre-forward Taiwo Awoniyi. In addition to the Nigerian, who is taking part in the Africa Cup, winger Pawel Wszolek will also miss the start of training.
As Oliver Ruhnert told a media roundtable on Wednesday, Wszolek had tested positive for COVID-19 in his native Poland. “Pawel is in quarantine in Poland until January 5. He will come back on 6 or 7 January at the earliest,” said Union’s manager.
Awoniyi is expected back in Berlin much later than substitute Wszolek, who arrived from Legia Warsaw on a free transfer in the summer but has yet to play a role at Union. The Nigerian is in the Super Eagles’ squad for the Africa Cup, which takes place in Cameroon from 9 January to 6 February. The nomination of the top scorer with nine goals is causing mixed feelings at Union.
Ruhnert criticises: “Difficult to understand the process “
“When we sign a player like Taiwo Awoniyi, you have to respect that there is an Africa Cup in January. His performances have brought him to the attention of the Nigerian national team, who have nominated him. That’s a positive effect at first. Nevertheless, we miss him, that annoys us, that is not good for us, because we will already miss him in January,” said Ruhnert, who was also dissatisfied with the organisation of the Africa Cup as well as with the procedures surrounding the nomination of the attacker by the Nigerian association, which had dismissed national coach Gernot Rohr before Christmas.
“The clubs are very unhappy. We still don’t have a hygiene policy. We are still struggling to understand what the process is. The nomination has come very late. Actually, there is a rule that the club has to be informed 15 days before the nomination. All these things have made it difficult to plan,” said Ruhnert. Added to this is the uncertain development of the pandemic and the possible effects on the participating professionals at the Africa Cup. “If Cameroon is classified as a virus variant area, it will be difficult to hold this Africa Cup as planned. Then all the players including Awoniyi would have to go into a 14-day domestic quarantine upon their return,” said Union’s manager, demanding, “We need the highest possible security for the players to be able to participate in good health and not have a major outbreak of COVID-19. “
How many weeks Union will have to do without Awoniyi depends on Nigeria’s tournament performance and the pandemic. Should Cameroon be declared a virus variant area, Awoniyi is expected to return to Berlin immediately. Ruhnert, however, sees Union’s existing squad as basically well-equipped to absorb the loss of the top performer at the start of the second half of the season. “We have enough offensive players,” said the 50-year-old, who also commented on the upcoming transfer period shortly before the turn of the year. After the signing of centre-back Dominique Heintz from Freiburg, which was already done as an anticipation for the summer, Ruhnert assumes that “there won’t be much on the entry side in the winter because we are also very happy with the existing squad. “
Van Drongelen to be loaned out
Union wants to reduce the size of the squad above all. One of the transfer candidates is Rick van Drongelen, who was only signed from Hamburger SV in the summer for the basic transfer fee of 500,000 euros. So far, the central defender has played no role at Union. In Heintz, another central defender is now available who, like van Drongelen, is a left-footer. Therefore, the Dutchman, who is under contract with Union until 2025, is to be loaned out. “Rick approached us. We have agreed with him that we will now see where he can generate playing practice for the second half of the season. We will actively work on that with Rick,” Ruhnert explained.
