It only takes a minute or two of watching Ermedin Demirovic at training camp to realise that the striker loves chatting and joking with his team-mates. ‘Medo’, as they call him, contributes to the strong team spirit by dint of the fact that he is a talented linguist. Not only does he speak German and English, in addition to the Bosnian and Serbian that you would expect, but also a little French and Spanish. And in his second season at VfB, he will be looking for more success on the pitch.
Ever-present
“I definitely want more,” the 27-year-old said, adding how much the season just gone has fired him up. “It was such a great feeling to win a trophy with the DFB Cup, but we could have achieved much more in the Bundesliga than our ninth-place finish.” Demirovic joined VfB from Augsburg the previous summer and went on to be an ever-present across all competitions, namely the Bundesliga, the DFB Cup, the UEFA Champions League and the DFL Supercup. In total, he racked up 49 appearances, scoring 17 goals and setting up six more – quite an achievement for someone in their first season with the club.
Not that statistics are all that he brings to the table, as he explains: “As a striker, I obviously want to help my team with goals and assists, but also with the way I play. My aim is to continue to develop as a forward and get more involved in the game.” That’s why it’s so important to him that VfB play an expansive style of football, knowing full well that his presence and power will always give head coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s team an extra dimension.
Ramping up the intensity
At their training camp on the shores of Lake Tegernsee, VfB are currently working on key elements such as build-up play and transitions, alongside the fitness elements. “We already put a lot of hard work in in Stuttgart, but things have been ramped up a notch at training camp,” Demirovic added. “We’re basically all determined to end up in a place where we can beat any team we face, because we want to feature well in all competitions.”
The Cannstatt boys will round off the camp with a friendly against French Ligue 1 side FC Toulouse, who ended last season in 10th place. The game in Heimstetten, near Munich, will kick off at 15:00 CEST on Saturday 2 August.
