Hannes Wolf | The coach showed me how Swansea play, I loved it
Hannes Wolf has revealed how his excitement at Swansea City’s style of play and his role in it played a key part in him electing to make the move to SA1.
The 22-year-old midfielder has joined the Swans on loan from Bundesliga side Borussia Monchengladbach, subject to international clearance.
You can click the play icon to view his first interview with SwansTV in full.
Wolf will wear the number 13 shirt and is hoping to be in contention to make his debut in Saturday’s game against Preston at the Swansea.com Stadium.
Known as an energetic player, with an ability to drive forward purposefully with the ball, Wolf was linked with a number of clubs during the January window, but spoke of how a Zoom call with head coach Russell Martin proved pivotal in his decision.
“The first thing for me was that I had a really good Zoom call with the coach, he told me how they want to play football and he showed me some videos of how the team has been playing,” he said.
“When I saw it, I just loved it from the first moment, it is the same way I see football.
“I knew the club, Swansea is a big club and so everything was top. I told my agent and we decided to come here.
“This is a team that has so much possession, and as an offensive player you can get so many chances per game.
“This suits me, and I feel I can help the team playing this way. I have watched five or six of Swansea’s games this season and it is really good football.
“This is a new experience for me, and it is something I wanted to do. I wanted to do something different for me and I think this could be perfect.”
Wolf was so keen to get over to South Wales and get down to work that he travelled through five countries in two days to speed up the visa process so he could be available to play this weekend.
Due to flight availability, Wolf travelled from Dusseldorf to Paris, before heading on to Amsterdam, Bristol and eventually Swansea.
“I am really happy and very excited to finally be here. I had an interesting journey, I have been in Paris, I have been in Amsterdam to try and make sure I could be here,” he added.
“I wanted to make sure I could get her and train and play as soon as possible, I knew that the next game was coming up on Saturday and because of this I did not have time to do this in Germany, and I did not want to wait.
“This is a new experience for me, and it is something I wanted to do. I wanted to do something different for me and I think this could be perfect.”
Wolf came through the ranks at Red Bull Salzburg having been signed as a 14-year-old.
His first senior appearances came for their reserve side, FC Liefering, in the Austrian second tier, where he scored seven goals in 35 league appearances.
That earned him an opportunity with the senior side, making four appearances during the 2016-17 season before becoming a regular over the following two campaigns.
He made 70 appearances in total, scoring 17 goals – briefly playing alongside Erling Haaland - before making the move to RB Leipzig but he suffered a broken leg while on international duty and missed the first few months of the season.
He returned to make five appearances, and bounced back impressively when loaned to fellow Bundesliga side Monchengladbach for the 2020-21 campaign as he made 41 appearances and scored four goals.
His performances saw the deal made permanent, but has not seen as much game time as he would have liked since the departure of coach Marco Rose – who Wolf previously worked with at RB Salzburg - to Borussia Dortmund.
And he is eager to get games under his belt and show what he can do in a white shirt.
“I like the ball at my feet, I like to dribble with the ball and take on defenders, looking to play the right ball in the right moment,” said Wolf, who has also played alongside the likes of Patson Daka and Takumi Minamino.
“I hope I can show from the first day what I can do, I have not played so many games these past months but I will be giving everything for Swansea.
“I trained with the team, and it was really nice and the training ground and everything here is top.
“The quality of training was great and I felt good.
“I now need to play my football again, and play with speed and confidence. As a team, there is so much quality here that we want to move up the league. I am excited for the 23 games we have left.”
