Fitness updates on Alex Král, Justin Heekeren and Sebastian Polter

It turned out that the midfielder is suffering from a disc problem that has thus far prevented his return to regular team training. For the time being, Král’s training load has had to be reduced again in order to be able to tackle the problem in a targeted manner. “It’s positive that we have now been able to identify a solution to the problem. That gives us a perspective on lasting improvement,” explained Peter Knäbel, member of the board of directors and responsible for the area of sport. “Of course, even though we want to see Alex with the team as quickly as possible, we will give him the rest he needs. In the course of the season, we will still need him and to be healthy and resilient. But, as of today, playing in a competitive fixture in January is out of the question.

Justin Heekeren’s 2022/23 season is however over ahead of time. A MRT back in Gelsenkirchen revealed an injury to his lateral meniscus as well as cruciate ligament damage in the goalkeeper’s right knee. Heekeren will be operated on in Innsbruck by professor Dr. Christian Fink shortly and will be unavailable for the Royal Blues in the long term. “We anticipate at least six months injury time. However, Justin is young and will work his way back again and we will support him in every way we can,” said Knäbel.

Sebastian Polter, who left Belek on Sunday (January 8th) with a suspected cruciate ligament injury in his right knee, still has to undergo final tests. „Polti will definitely be out longer, that’s already for certain. We will know everything else in the coming days and then also announce it,“ Knäbel concluded.