Augsburg’s Elias Saad praises Sandro Wagner and looks ahead to reunion with St. Pauli | OneFootball

Hamburg-native Elias Saad switched Bundesliga clubs this summer. The 25-year-old did not find it an easy decision to leave his hometown club of FC St. Pauli and head all the way down south to FC Augsburg, but found himself compelled to join new FCA head coach Sandro Wagner at the Fuggerstädter. Wagner’s promise to help Saad develop more as an attacker played an important role.

“Sandro having been a striker himself meant he could coach me far better individually,” Saad remarked in an interview with the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper. “When Sandro became coach, he contacted me and showed me what he had in mind for me. I was immediately enthusiastic and wanted the transfer to happen quickly.“

Saad wished tomato clear that he still maintained a great amount of respect for St. Pauli head coach Alexander Blessin, against whom he’ll be playing this coming Sunday. Augsburg travel to the Millerntor this weekend to take on Saad’s old club. The German-Tunisian noted that he was very much looking forward to the reunion and expanded on why he couldn’t stay.

“[Blessin] being a man in charge of a newly promoted team meant that he needed to concentrate on shoring up the defense first and foremost,” Saad said. “He didn’t have time to work on details with an attacking player. My first Bundesliga season wasn’t optimal. I then simply felt I needed to get out of Hamburg after spending my entire life there.”

GGFN | Peter Weis