"Mark Flekken has a great wealth of ability that a goalkeeper needs in top-level football today. He has great reflexes, dominates his area well and has enormous reach with his height of 1.95 metres. Mark has an impressive physical presence and in terms of football he was one of the best keepers in the Premier League over the past two years," said Bayer 04 sporting managing director Simon Rolfes. "He knows the Bundesliga from his successful time at Freiburg. The years in England and his role in the Netherlands team have brought Mark a great amount of international experience on top of that. We are very well placed in the goalkeeping position for the team in the coming years," declared Rolfes.
For the Oranje keeper with eight caps, the move to Bayer 04 is "the next and special step in my career. Many games against absolutely world-class players in England have raised the level of my game," said Flekken. "I'm very happy to be able to dedicate my qualities now to a top German club with big national and European targets. I love the Bundesliga and I'm obviously also looking forward to playing for the Werkself in the Champions League."
Flekken returns from England as a seasoned player to Germany where he was a U17 player for Alemannia Aachen. After playing for Greuther Fürth and MSV Duisburg, he signed for SC Freiburg in 2018 where he made his breakthrough. He played 96 games for the Freiburg side and became one of the top goalkeepers in the league, which brought Flekken to the attention of foreign clubs. The model athlete made 74 Premier League appearances for Brentford over two seasons.
Lots of experience from the Premier League and Bundesliga: Mark Flekken profile
The German Football League (DFL) has announced the three candidates for Bundesliga ‘Rookie of the Month’ for February. Among the candidates is Werkself player Jarell Quansah. Fans of Bayer 04 can vote for their favourite on the Bundesliga app from now until Thursday, 5 March (23:59 CET).
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On a day that celebrated 50 years of official Bayer 04 fan clubs with festivities on the pitch during the match against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday, New York-based Werkself Warriors were proudly represented on the field by co-founder Alex Kramm.
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The Werkself conceded a goal at home for the first time since the beginning of January 67 minutes into the game against FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday. Jarell Quansah levelled late on for the final score of 1-1 to secure a point and avoid a first home defeat in six games. Bayer 04 were very critical of their performance after the game. The Werkself review.
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Rüdiger Vollborn has been at the club for 40 years, he holds the record number of Bundesliga appearances for the club (401) and is the only Bayer 04 player to have won both the UEFA Cup (1988) and the DFB Pokal (1993). And the Berliner stayed with the Werkself after ending his impressive playing career as he worked as a goalkeeping coach for the following nine years. Vollborn now works under the Bayer Cross as a fan liaison officer and club archivist. Since February 2021, the personalised Black and Red lexicon takes Werkself fans under the heading of 'Rudi recounts...' on a brief trip through the history of Bayer 04 every month…
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