“Had a very good season”: is Jatta still first-choice at HSV? | OneFootball

A year ago, Bakery Jatta’s time at HSV seemed to be over. The wide player was advised to leave and no longer played any sporting role.

But twelve months later, the situation has completely turned around: So far, the 28-year-old has been one of the winners of preparations for the new Bundesliga season. Jatta has not missed a single training session this summer. He also started both friendlies against Rapid Vienna (2:3) and 1. FC Heidenheim (3:1) as the right wing-back. At the moment, he is almost without competition in his position, even though sporting director Claus Costa is still looking for a replacement for the departed William Mikelbrencis and Giorgi Gocholeishvili.

That Jatta would find himself in such a comfortable position at all would have been hard for anyone to imagine just a few months ago. After being virtually frozen out last summer, he did not make it back into the squad until matchday 13.

Ironically, he then went straight into the starting lineup in the North derby against Werder Bremen (3:2). The experiment paid off, and coach Merlin Polzin established him as a right wing-back. Of the final 16 matches of the season, Jatta started 12 and came off the bench three times. Only health problems cost him six matches in the spring.

Photo: Getty Images

Ex-HSV star on Jatta: “Always valuable”

Former HSV pro Sonny Kittel is also pleased about the positive development of his longtime companion. “Baka has become a good friend. We’re in touch several times a month and exchange ideas,” the 33-year-old explained on the Abendblatt podcast “HSV, wir müssen reden”.

From a sporting perspective, the Gambian is beyond any doubt anyway. “There’s no need to worry about Baka,” Kittel stressed, highlighting his character above all: “A player like that is always valuable to a team. He has absolutely nothing but the team in mind, gives everything, is always there, and is disciplined.” His conclusion is correspondingly clear: “He had a very good season and can build on that.” Right now, that is exactly what he is doing.

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