Bundesliga: Leipzig hires Ole Werner as a coach after he refused to sign extension at Bremen

Leipzig hired Ole Werner on Tuesday as a coach and finished a long jumble with his former club Werder Bremen about his availability.

The 37-year-old Werner signed a two-year contract that runs until the end of the 2026-27 season, Leipzig said on her website.

Werner was fired by Bremen in May as soon as the season ended because he refused to expand his contract with the Bundesliga club. It had to run for another year. Werner said he had reached a «specific point» in the club after he led it to promotion in 2022 and supervising a steady improvement despite limited resources.

Although he was rejected as a coach, Werner remained contract for Bremen. Leipzig -sports director Marcel Schäfer and Bremen -opposed to Clemens Fritz, needed long negotiations before they eventually corresponded to a reported transfer costs of 2 million euros ($ 2.3 million) to release Werner.

Assistants Patrick Kohlmann and Tom Cichon join him.

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«We are convinced that he is ready for the next step and look forward to working with him to push our team planning ahead,» said Schäfer.

Werner, who led Bremen to eighth place in the Bundesliga last season, is expected to lead Leipzig back to the Champions League after it has completely missed the European qualification for the first time since the promotion in 2016.

Leipzig only finished seventh last season despite much larger resources than Bremen.

«Both parties share the same ideas about how we want to play and work,» said Werner. «That made the decision to take this next step together an easy step for me.»