KELLER EAGER TO FACE FORMER CLUB
Friday, 13. January 2017, 13:53 Uhr
Joel Keller became a St. Pauli player in the summer of 2015. The defender is now at training camp with his team-mates preparing for the second half of the season. The first two warm-up games there are scheduled for this Saturday – one of them against the club of Keller's youth, FC Basel, whose colours he wore for eight years.
"On the one hand, it's just a friendly where all of us, not just me, will be looking to stake a claim," said Keller before the meeting with FC Basel. "On the other, it's obviously a special occasion for me." Whether the eleven-times-capped Switzerland youth international will run out against Tinajin Teda on Saturday lunchtime or against Basel in the evening will be left to the coaching team to decide.
The 21-year-old started playing football at FC Hägendorf before rising through the youth ranks at FC Basel from 2006 to 2014. "I spent almost my entire youth there," he said. "I learned how to play football in Basel and took a lot with me for the rest of my career." Keller has not always been a defender, however: "I played in every position apart from in goal," he explained. "I started in defence and then played in midfield and in attack. In my final year at Basel I went back into midfield and defence."
As a youngster, Keller was a regular visitor to the St. Jacob Park: "I was a ball boy on the touchline in my early days and saw almost every game in the stadium." He eventually spent a year in FC Basel's second team but was unable to break into the senior squad. In the summer of 2014 his performances in the UEFA Youth League secured him a move to FC Nürnberg. The left-sided player joined the Boys in Brown 12 months later and signed a new two-year deal in May 2016.
Keller, seen here shrugging off a challenge from Alexander Merkel, gave a good performance against VfL Bochum.
To date Keller has made ten appearances (one assist) in Bundesliga 2, plus another 24 for the Under-23s, registering four goals and four assists. He recently earned himself a regular berth in Ewald Lienen's side, starting each of the last five matches before the winter break. In the final game of the year against VfL Bochum he made the goal for Aziz Bouhaddouz. "I was glad to feel the trust of the boss towards the end of the first half of the season and be given a chance to play," he said.
The defender now hopes to carry on where he left off last year, of course. "Every player wants to be in the side for the restart and I'm no exception, but there's a lot of competition," said Keller. "All I can do is go full throttle in training and then it's up the boss to decide," he added. He's now going full throttle in Sotogrande – and hoping to do the same against Basel tomorrow evening.
Photos: Witters
