Timm Klose without a contract – Ex-Nati defender is looking for a new club – “Doesn’t want career to end like this”

“We talked to various clubs,” says Timm Klose calmly. Although there is interest, no concrete offers have yet been made. The 33-year-old has been without a valid working paper since the end of August after he terminated his well-paid contract with Premier League promoted Norwich City. “I don’t want to sit on the bench,” explains the central defender in an interview with 20 minutes. “I want to let out what I’m inside again, enjoy all the emotions and the fun again,” says Klose. After all, he is not a Zlatan Ibrahimović who can play football up to 40.

Klose didn’t get around quite like the Swedish superstar. Nevertheless, his career can be seen: The 1.95-meter giant made it through Thun, Nuremberg and Wolfsburg to Norwich, where he became a top performer, at times wore the captain’s armband and was promoted to the Premier League with the “Canaries”. When he returned to the regular club FC Basel on loan in the summer of 2020, that experience raised huge expectations. As a veteran and figure of identification, he should have shaped a new FCB era.

The loan season at FCB was anything but ideal. More than 30 points behind Master YB, Cup disgrace against Winterthur and the end in the EL playoffs against Sofia. So Klose is now keeping fit in the FCB’s U-21s instead of chasing the title with second place in the Super League. “It’s fun to train with the boys,” he says humbly. The question remains, where to go now. Klose: “I would like to be in the Super League.” But he would also play the Challenge League and keep looking from there, according to the 17-time national player.

Klose continues: “I don’t have to make unrealistic demands on wages or standards.” Instead, important factors are that he can play – and that it is geopolitically calm. But you also have to pay attention to the corona situation. For example, he was in contact with clubs in Australia, where the pandemic is being dealt with very restrictively. “There is no point in going there, playing two or three games and then being stuck there,” said the German cup winner from 2015. In general, Corona would make the situation on the market a lot more difficult, Klose estimates. You can also see that in the Super League, especially for older players like him.

Anyway, the philosophy on the player market has changed. Klose: “The emotional component of wanting to give everything for a club has been lost.” It’s all about survival and making money with young players as quickly as possible. “Older players are no longer attractive,” he says and says that he no longer wants to stay in that market at any price. “I’ll wait for this transfer window and then we’ll look further.” He would definitely have alternatives: The assiduous defense chief already has a degree in sports management in his pocket. Just like the B diploma as a football teacher, which he obtained from the English Football Association. “I’m going to attach the A diploma right now,” announced Klose.

In addition, together with his mother Daniela Spillmann, he runs the exclusive Basel members’ club “Club de Bâle”. “Here, too, it is crucial to remain realistic and not have any utopian ideas,” says Klose. In the end, it’s about looking back and not regretting anything. And he could: “I had a great career and achieved all of the goals I set.” Nevertheless, he doesn’t want to end his career as a free agent: “I couldn’t decide for myself when to finish. That was sometimes taken out of my hand. ”

Against an involuntary one KArriereende are currently fighting alongside Timm Klose a whole range of other established Swiss footballers. For example, the 13-time national player Loris Benito. The 30-year-old left-back has been looking for a club since his contract with Petkovic-Club Bordeaux was terminated. Over Christmas he was in trial training at Championship Club Nottingham Forest, but turned down a contract offer until the summer. He is currently preparing for the second half of the season with the Aarau youth club.

Gaetano Berardi is currently on the road with FC Sion. The 33-year-old right-back is without a club after seven successful years at Leeds United. The simple national player is currently keeping fit at FC Sion. With FCZ legend Marco Schönbächler (31), who had to leave the city club in the summer, another player with national team experience (two international matches) is also looking for a new employer.