A classy new signing  

“Christian’s experience will be hugely beneficial for us in the coming year. He’s already proven he’s a classy player on a number of occasions. Our medical checks were intense, but went well and we now hope that he can rediscover his strengths. At the very least, we’ve expanded our squad and given ourselves more options with this signing”, stated 96-director of sport Jörg Schmadtke. 

Pander joined the academy ranks at Schalke 04 when he moved from lower league side Preußen Münster in 2001. 3-years later and he was making his Bundesliga debut, albeit in a memorable defeat against Werder Bremen in the Weserstadion that saw the game delayed an hour due to technical issues with the floodlights. Having made his debut at the age of 20, the now 27-year old went on to play his way into the hearts of the Royal Blue fans with his attacking movement, desire to get forward and delightful crossing ability.

Adding attacking quality

There are not many Bundesliga players who can boast as lethal a left-foot as Christian Pander, whether he’s whipping in an accurate cross into the box, hitting dangerous free-kicks or simply playing the long ball forward to get his team on the front foot. Though it may have been hard to bid farewell to Schalke 04 after 7 years in Gelsenkirchen, the Reds new acquisition is looking forward to the task ahead.

Pander himself admitted that there were ultimately several reasons that he decided to join Hannover: “I’m pleased to be able to join 96. This team has a lot of potential, something that we all saw during last season. I want to help this team build on that success. Especially pleasing, is that I already know Mirko Slomka from his days at Schalke. He’s an incredibly good manager, with whom I’m pleased to be working with again.” Mirko Slomka himself had a few words to say regarding his new signing: “I’m really looking forward to the high level of sporting quality that Christian will bring to our squad. On top of that I’ve got to know him as a player with a lot of character, which is why I’m confident he will fit perfectly with the group of players we already have here.”