Jatta reveals: how René Adler saved him from an early HSV exit | OneFootball

Bakery Jatta has now once again become an established part of Hamburg’s squad. At first, he struggled enormously with the unusually high athletic demands.

At the age of 17, Jatta, who had fled Gambia and was referred through a Bremen youth project, introduced himself to HSV, then coached by Bruno Labbadia. During a trial training session in January 2016, he quickly reached his limits. “It was so hard, so intense and so much faster than anything I had ever experienced before. I was completely done, then lay down behind the sauna in the relaxation room and fell fast asleep,” the winger said in an interview with kicker.

His HSV chapter might well have ended again very quickly. But “thankfully there was René Adler. He looked for me everywhere and then woke me up,” Jatta, who was therefore able to take part in the next session, continued. In the end, it was the start of an “incredible journey” for him. On 01/07/2016, he received a professional contract. Three quarters of a year later, he made his Bundesliga debut in the derby defeat in Bremen (1-2).

Photo: IMAGO

Jatta: Position change to stay at HSV

By then, Markus Gisdol was already on the touchline—one of a total of eleven coaches Jatta has had to deal with at HSV. “I took something from each of them for my career, for life,” said Jatta. He particularly highlighted Labbadia: “He was the first and gave me this huge opportunity. I will always be grateful to him for that.” In addition, Labbadia, who worked for HSV on two separate occasions, was “an impressive person” who, on the one hand, demanded “an incredible amount,” but on the other was “very communicative” and helped Jatta “a great deal.”

In the winter of 2024, a reunion nearly happened. Labbadia was briefly considered the favorite to succeed Steffen Baumgart. In the end, Merlin Polzin took over, first leading HSV back to the Bundesliga and then comfortably securing survival. Under the current coach, Jatta initially played only a minor role and was even training away from the team a year ago.

Nur die Raute – All the news about HSV

But Hamburg’s comeback man did not give up and even accepted retraining from right winger to wing-back, where the regular options had not exactly been convincing. “It was a long process with a lot of conversations, with many hours of video. Then Merlin and his coaching staff tried to put on the pitch what we had watched on video,” Jatta explained.

“I had to learn a lot. But hard work has always been one of my strengths, and I put all my energy into learning the position.” Successfully so: since December 2025, Jatta has made 15 Bundesliga appearances in his new role and currently seems to be a fixture in Hamburg’s starting lineup—also due to a lack of competition.

Photo: Getty Images

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.