According to Kicker, Weiser has completed his first full training session following his cruciate ligament injury and may play a more attacking role upon his return.

It was already clear during the summer break that Mitchell Weiser would not be able to fully integrate with the team when Werder Bremen began their pre-season preparations on July 12. The serious cruciate ligament injury sustained a year earlier continued to affect his recovery.

However, the 32-year-old's comeback was repeatedly delayed. Due to physical setbacks and other factors, Weiser's training load could not be increased for an extended period. Finally, on Tuesday, the long-awaited return arrived: the Werder Bremen player fully joined team training after a lengthy injury layoff.

58 days after the start of the new season's first training session, Weiser finally no longer needs to reduce his training volume. Head coach Daniel Thioune said: "Last week, we even used him as a neutral player. That's no longer necessary. From now on, he is fully integrated into the squad."

Even during Werder Bremen's first training camp in Austria, the 52-year-old coach had been looking forward to the return of this "top, top, top signing." Weiser then had to wait several more weeks, which was not the original plan and left Werder Bremen short of options at right-back at the start of the season.

Since Felix Agu was also not yet match-fit at the time and a new signing did not arrive until the final day of the transfer window, Mikel Schmetgens, who originally plays as a center-back, had to fill in at right-back in the first two official matches.

In the 3-1 victory over RB Leipzig last Saturday, Bayer Leverkusen loanee Arthur started in that position, with Schmetgens replacing him in the 67th minute. The two now appear to be competing for the starting right-back position for the time being.

As for Weiser, based on Thioune's comments, next week's Bundesliga match against Cologne may still come too soon. Thioune said: "He still needs one to two weeks of full training." He prefers Weiser to return after the international break, "perhaps against Augsburg." That match will take place in 11 days.

Following Arthur's arrival, Mbangula's departure, and Justin Njinmah's injury, Werder Bremen now need more attacking wingers rather than defensive wingers. This was also the role Weiser was expected to play last season under former coach Horst Steffen.

Therefore, as sporting director Clemens Fritz previously indicated, Weiser's return should help address the personnel shortage mentioned by Thioune. Thioune said: "Against Leipzig, it would have helped us greatly to have another winger, as we had only one winger available on the bench."

Erevbenagie replaced Eren Dinkci at the time, while Marco Grüll played the full match on the left wing and was named man of the match. However, the Werder Bremen coach noted that the Austrian "cannot necessarily do that in every match": "So I still hope to have another attacking player available on the bench."

What is certain is that if Weiser returns to full match fitness, Thioune said he "will not be content with just training and will want to play."

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