Werder Bremen ‘not surprised’ at rapid rise of centre-back Karim Coulibaly (18)

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Sport Bild reports that Werder Bremen centre-back and Germany U20 international Karim Coulibaly is attracting interest from several clubs abroad. The rising Bundesliga talent is apparently being courted by top division clubs in Italy, England, and Portugal. Coulibaly – who has now started five consecutive league fixtures for Bremen – is also the biggest winner of his squad’s October market value update. 

Transfermarkt has opted to raise Coulibaly’s estimated market worth from €1m to €8m this month. Injuries in the Bremen defensive corps led to Coulibaly receiving an unexpected start for the Hanseaten on matchday two. The Oldenburg-native ended up being one of the most sensational stories of the weekend after scoring a dramatic late equalizer against Bayer Leverkusen.

Bremen head coach Horst Steffen has opted to stick with Couliably despite the fact that some of his regular starters have returned and the youngster has experienced some stumbles since. Coulibaly scored an unfortunate own-goal in a matchday four loss to SC Freiburg and (like the rest of the team) couldn’t hope to keep up with high-flying Bayern Munich during a lopsided matchday five defeat. 

Steffen still remains fond of his prospect and even responded to the transfer rumors positively. Werder Bremen managing director Clemens Fritz, meanwhile, has had a chance to register his positive thoughts on Coulibaly’s increased market value. Fritz praised Coulibaly and several other young rising Werder talents that have begun making inroads with the senior team this season.

“I’m not surprised,” Steffen – who famously developed talents such as Nick Woltemade, Paul Wanner, and Fisnik Asllani at Elversberg – remarked at a recent Bremen press conference. “I was more surprised that he was more uncertain in the first one or two games than I had previously noticed. But he’s still reliable. I am very pleased that he is developing so well.”

“In the first few games, we saw that Mio Backhaus, Karim Coulibaly, and Patrice Covic can hold their own in the Bundesliga.” Fritz added in a recent transfermarkt.de interview. “Karim has improved in every game so far. He has shown in the games so far that he can play at this level and has earned his appearances. I’m not surprised that Karim has jumped in the ratings after his performances in recent weeks.”

GGFN | Peter Weis