I was ready to quit and take up teaching... now I’m facing Liverpool!
NORWICH DEFENDER ZIMMERMANN WAS SET FOR THE CLASSROOM UNTIL A TEXT POPPED UP ON HIS PHONE...
CHRISTOPH Zimmermann was within days of giving up football to pursue a career in teaching.
But then a text from Norwich manager Daniel Farke flashed up on his phone.
Fast-forward two years and the German central defender is about to embark on the big time as Norwich prepare for Friday’s Premier League curtain-raiser against European champions Liverpool. It’s all been a bit of a whirlwind for Zimmermann. But a very welcome one as he contemplates taming Mo Salah and Co.
‘Two years ago I was studying teaching,’ the 26-year-old (below) tells Sportsmail. ‘I was also in talks with a club in Denmark but they had just been relegated to the second league, so I wasn’t thinking about that.
‘I was thinking about staying in Germany and doing a serious job. I had played five years in the lower tiers in Germany, so I thought I should focus on my future.
‘There were two options: study in Dortmund, which means my fiancee would have to pay the rent. Option two was Denmark but I had second thoughts about it. Then Farke texted me to find out if I had a new club.
‘Within 10 days I flew to Norwich and signed the day after. I could be starting my masters degree now — but I’m going to play in the Premier League!’ With every fairy tale, however, comes a sacrifice. And Zimmermann’s story is no different. Any bouts of homesickness should ease after he married his long-term partner earlier this summer. Yet Zimmermann openly discusses the difficulties he faces in missing his family, who remain in his home town of Dusseldorf.
‘The good thing about coming to England was that it happened so quickly. I didn’t have time to think about it,’ he says. ‘Until the age of 21, I was seeing my family everyday. FaceTime helps, but I’d be lying if I said it was easy.
‘You get used to it — but you shouldn’t get used to not seeing each other regularly.’
Realising his dream of playing in the Premier League should serve to soften any bouts of homesickness, of course. In his early teens, Zimmermann joined Dusseldorf club Sports Club West, where he quickly emerged as one of the brightest talents in the region. He was soon recruited by Borussia Monchengladbach, where he went on to make 52 appearances in the German fourth tier for their second team.
Then former Huddersfield boss David Wagner — in charge of Borussia Dortmund’s second team — swooped for Zimmerman in 2014. But the following year Wagner left for the Terriers, paving the way for Farke to take his place. In 2017, Farke was appointed Norwich manager — and that text was sent.
At 6ft 4in, Zimmermann was always going to relish the physicality of English football. The Championship is an unforgiving division but Zimmermann took it in his stride and was recognised as one of the best central defenders outside the top flight.
Of course, we’ll discover the true extent of the towering German’s talents in the coming weeks — the Premier League takes no prisoners and the ball is on the turf more than in the air.
Throw in the fact that Zimmerman had minor knee surgery earlier this summer and therefore had to play catch-up during preseason. With Liverpool first up, it is a daunting prospect.
And Zimmermann, who signed a new long- term contract at Carrow Road earlier this summer, acknowledges this season represents an altogether tougher challenge for him and Farke’s team. But he will take trips to Old Trafford and the Emirates over playing in front of 200 people in Germany’s third and fourth tier — or teaching for that matter.
He adds: ‘Last year, when I played at Arsenal and Chelsea in the cups, I thought to myself, “I could be in a lecture right now”.
‘But instead I was playing in front of 50,000 at Arsenal. It was then I knew I chose the right path. I used to play in front of 200-300 people at Monchengladbach. I’ve come a very long way.’