Plattenhardt: "I was looking for a new challenge"

"Of course I want to be a regular at Hertha." said new summer signing Marvin Plattenhardt. The 22-year-old left-back spoke to Kicker and the BZ, with the new season just a few weeks away. "I've settled in well. Some I knew from before: I played with Jens Hegeler and Julian Schieber in Nuremberg together. Nico Schulz and John Brooks I know from the U21 national team."

Plattenhardt made the switch from relegated Nürnberg to the capital club for a mere €500,000, thanks to a clause in his contract, it looks to be money with spent by Jos Luhukay."I was looking for a new challenge, a new environment, new friends. And I see in Berlin the best chance to develop myself. Meanwhile, I have a good feeling that it could work if I get a starting place."

Explained Plattenhardt, who'll face Johannes van den Bergh for a place in the starting eleven. "In modern football, this is a key position, there is intensive amounts of running. I want to try myself stuck in there," says Plattenhardt, whose younger brother plays at 1860 Munich's B-side, "He also has what it takes to, later on, play in the Bundesliga."

Lukukay has been experimenting with tactics during pre-season, but the young left-back has been taking it all in his stride, "First, we must be safe to stand and allow nothing," said Plattenhardt: "When it is possible, I am to turn offensive, but he does not want me see me stumble wildly forward and the let my side open. So far, in the friendlies, it has worked out well."

He also has an advantage over others in the team, due to his former coach, "I know the system of Gertjan Verbeek, we have very often trained it in the winter training camp and tried in tests. To me this is nothing new. They definitely have in common, that training is really hard. With Verbeek the training load was extreme. We have since frequently trained for ​​units which lasted up to two hours. It is similar here."

Attention soon switched to a possible return to the German U21 side,  "I want to assert myself at Hertha and then have the aim, in the autumn, to be part again to the U21 squad in the European Championship qualifier. From there, we can also qualify for the Olympic Games in Brazil."

A former European youth champion himself, he went on to talk about about the recent under 19 success; which was extremely prominent in Berlin, as three of the victorious team are Hertha players: "Things change a lot. You get lots of congratulations. And even more scouts call than before, because they see that there is a talent."

Following the move up north, Plattenhardt was forced to close down his Facebook account: "I'm not one to be hanging around all day on the phone. I have a Twitter account like many of my colleagues, which belongs almost to. My Facebook account I have however closed after I left Nürnberg. You can laugh about many things, because anyone can write anonymously. But not so nice things were being said. I have not re-opened the account. Maybe someday I will again."

What is certain, is that Hertha have gotten themselves a fantastic young player in Marvin Plattenhardt. With regular game time and a successful season for the capital club, he'll be competing for a national team spot in the future. His set-piece delivery is an added bonus to a solid overall package, can he continue his progression and push towards an even bigger move in the future?