Bundesliga
Sargent convincing Kohfeldt at Bremen
Josh Sargent looks set be given more chances to shine at Werder Bremen, with the 18-year-old USA striker building on his positive start to life in the Bundesliga over the winter break.
Sargent took just 86 seconds to open his Bundesliga account in December, helping Die Grün-Weißen to a 3-1 win over Fortuna Düsseldorf, before doubling his tally against RB Leipzig two weeks later.
Despite sharing attacking responsibilities with club captain Max Kruse, evergreen Bundesliga legend Claudio Pizarro and fellow young gun Johannes Eggestein, Sargent is quickly earning the trust of his coach, Florian Kohfeldt.
Sargent is one of just two Bremen players - the other being left-back Ludwig Augustinsson - to have completed all 180 minutes of the clubs' winter friendlies against Kaiser Chiefs and Bidvest Wits, and Kohfeldt has been effusive in his praise.
Watch: Sargent opens his Bremen account (from 01:35)
"He's made a step forward," he explained from the club's training base in South Africa. "Josh has performed very well in training and also in his recent Bundesliga games. More and more I feel that his actions aren't random. He knows exactly where he's meant to run."
Bremen fell into the bottom half of the table for the first time this season after the final match of the Hinrunde - that 3-2 loss to Leipzig. Despite playing well, goals have been eluding the northerners, and Sargent can expect plenty of minutes in 2019.
"He's a young player, so he's not going to start every week, nobody expects him to play all 17 games" said Kohfeldt. "But we play a deliberately narrow 4-3-3. Since Kruse always comes back into the midfield, there is a lot of space opened up in attack, and we can use Josh for this."