Interview: getting to know Christoph Zimmermann

Zimmermann on… joining Norwich City
I’m extremely delighted and very honoured for the opportunity. First of all, the connection is obvious because I worked together with the Head Coach Daniel Farke in Dortmund, and I had extremely good experiences with him. And Norwich City has some history in the Premier League and is a well-known club, and also the city seems really interesting and looks good. All of that together made it definitely the best option for me to take this summer after my contract with Dortmund ran out. That left me free to do whatever I wanted to do, and that was a good position for me, and so I chose Norwich.

Zimmermann on… his love of defending
Of course with my physical constitution I like the in-fights, I like winning headers. And, first of all, as a defender I like to defend and I like it if we don’t concede any goals – that’s always the biggest aim for a defender. Defending is my passion: sliding tackles on wet grass, headers, all of that sort of stuff which we would call man’s football – that’s what I like.

Zimmermann on… wanting to play in England
When I was a kid, around the age of 10 or 12, there was a German TV channel that on Monday nights at 11.30pm showed Premier League highlights. As a kid at that time normally you go to bed, but my brother and I stayed up to watch the Premier League because we were always interested in English football. In Germany, English footballers have a really good reputation for the kind of player I am, as a physical player. I think that British football is more attractive for me in a way than German football, and from a young age it was a dream and a goal to play here.

Zimmermann on… working with Daniel Farke again
I don’t want to be too positive about him, because that would sound weird! He’s extremely smart: during half-times, whenever there was something going wrong or if there was a problem with the opponents, he knew exactly what to do to make your own game better and to get a good result. He’s got this gift of being really objective about the matches even though there are a lot of emotions around games. He can really figure out and analyse in a really objective and calm way what was good and what wasn’t, and this makes the team better, creates success and makes each player better. I’m just 24, but I’ve worked with several good coaches at Borussia Borussia Monchengladbach and also at Dortmund but he’s definitely the best one I’ve had.

Zimmermann on… getting started
I’m already counting the days. I’m happy to have got a first impression of the training ground. I’ve had a really positive first impression, so I’m looking forward to meeting all the guys and I cannot wait to start working!