Josh Sargent “close” to place on Werder Bremen senior roster

Josh Sargent’s place on your television for Bundesliga weekends appears to be super close. According to an ESPN report, Werder Bremen coach Florian Kohfeldt has confirmed that Sargent is “competing” for a place on the senior roster.

He did not appear in the 18 today for Werder Bremen’s 5-1 victory over Weiche Flensburg, who plays in the 4th tier Regionalliga Nord, but according to Kohfeldt, he’s competing with Max Kruse and Claudio Pizarro, among others, for a place in the Bremen attack.

“We wanted him to find his rhythm [in the U23s], and you can see that he has his qualities,” Kohfeldt said to reporters about Sargent. He added that if Sargent had a 2-3 week window to win minutes with the senior team. If he couldn’t establish his spot, he would return to the Werder Bremen II, where he has 6 goals and 2 assists in 10 matches this season, to maintain his sharpness.

What’s clear is that this isn’t a make-or-break time for the 18-year-old. Rather, this is an opportunity for Sargent to break through onto the first team. One would expect him to be called up to the United States Men’s National Team for next month’s friendlies against England and Italy, but training with the first team and fighting for playing time is only going to make him better. So, while this is great news for the kid, let’s not fall off the ledge if he doesn’t break through immediately.