"Aurafarmer", "flexxen": Reporter lets Werder Bremen coach run into trouble

It was supposed to be a completely normal presentation: On Monday afternoon, Werder Bremen's new head coach, Horst Steffen , presented himself to the public for the first time. Together with Clemens Fritz, the club's managing director of professional football, the 56-year-old confidently answered the usual questions from the press.

But then the microphone went to a young reporter from the Bremen youth radio station "Bremen Next" – and suddenly it became strange.

"Is it planned to have a real aura farmer again to get it in?" asked the young woman . The The former Elversberg coach was briefly confused, while the reporter explained that Steffen had "vibed" well with young players at his previous positions – that is, he was on the same wavelength with them. She also wanted to know whether Werder Bremen were planning to bring another "aura farmer" or "shooter" into the team during the summer transfer window.

For those unfamiliar with the terms: In youth slang, an "aura farmer" is a person with a lot of charisma—a player who makes a presence felt on the pitch. A "baller" is defined by youth as a technically strong, confident player with a sense of humor and attitude.

Steffen helplessly passed the question on to Fritz – who, also irritated, asked for a translation. After the explanation, he had to smile: "Phew, Aura Farmer – learned something new today."

A little later, Fritz finally had a fitting answer: They see a lot of potential in the current squad. They still have to wait and see what happens on the departure side, but there are already several players who are still eligible to play in the U19s. The hope is that they will develop the next "aura farmer" themselves rather than buying him at great expense.

But that wasn't enough: The reporter had more questions. She recalled the 2022/23 season, when Steffen coached Nick Woltemade – at that time, the current national player was on loan from Werder Bremen to SV Elversberg . In her opinion, Steffen "made him big" – she found that "really stable in real life." Her question: Does the coach also "flex" about it in his private life – in other words, show off about it.

Steffen couldn't help but laugh, but took the question in good spirits: Woltemade had achieved everything himself . He was very proud of his development, still keeps in touch occasionally—and was thrilled about his nomination for the national team.

Finally, the reporter wanted to know whether it was "delulu"—that is, unrealistic—to dream of a European Cup berth. Steffen laughed: The language was still new to him, but exciting. He remained calm about the content: In principle, everything is open to the top – but he didn't want to make any concrete promises or predictions about the placing.