The Return of the King
By: Abby | July 3rd, 2009A new striker before Austria (on the 10th of July)? How about a new striker today?
Well, not so much a new striker. A returning striker. Artur Wichniarek has come back, signing a two-year deal. At Armenia Bielefeld he was known as King Artur and was their main line of offense, scoring the goals that kept them tenuously connected to the 1. Bundesliga. Bielefeld was finally relegated last season and the king’s been looking for a new throne. 
He also had a spectacularly unspectacular time at Hertha, between his two stints at Bielfeld, appearing in 44 games (mostly as a sub) and scoring only 4 goals. His time at Hertha was mostly noticeable for the leaving- namely, all the shots he took at Dieter Hoeness since then. As late as last year he was bashing Dieter, referring to him as the “main problem” of Hertha.
Well, now Hoeness is out and Artur is back.
It’s hard not to be a little conflicted about this transfer. At 32, Wichniarek is not young, and his previous time at Hertha was not noteable. But his past few years at Bielefeld has shown that he can score goals at Bundesliga level, even when teams know he’s the most potent attacking threat. In that manner, he’s much like the departed Marko Pantelic. And this is also not the Hertha Berlin he left. Not only is Hoeness gone, but the rest of the team is nearly completely changed. There’s a different manager than he left, a new set of players. And at €700,000 it’s not a bad choice, financially, for a proven Bundesliga striker. As Michael Preetz has said, “he knows where the goal is.” (Today’s presentation has given him the number 18, despite the number 9 being free- a sign of another striker also coming, or just reading into things too much?)
So welcome, Artur. Let’s hope this reign is better than the last one.
Category: transfer news
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Comments | Add your comment
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He scored at least ten goals per season over the past three years for Bielefeld. So he is a proven and experienced striker and importantly for Hertha his wage demands are moderate, especially compared to what Voronin and Pantelic have been and wanted to earn. Maybe add that kid from Real Madrid to the mix and you got three talents and one experienced proven striker. With Raffael being another potential backup, there should be enough firepower available for Favre – although I say that because I’m optimistic a player like Domo or Chermiti will have a breakthrough season…
Posted from
Germany
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I still have faith in the kids, Jan, I think they’ll come good (especially if Chermiti gets fit). I do think that Wichniarek is, on the whole, a good signing. He definitely scores goals and should be a good influence on the squad, which has lost a lot of senior figures lately.
Posted from
United States -
I’m struggling to be enthusiastic about Wichniarek, but I can but hope he’ll deliver!
Posted from
United Kingdom -
Yes, I think this is more than likely a good scorer. We need someone with experience who can score.
Posted from
United States
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