“It was in this moment that I realised it was really f****d up.”

It’s the evening of Monday 29 August 2021 and Mark Flekken, sat at home with his wife, is considering which hospital he’ll check into for surgery.

A day earlier, as Flekken was warming up ahead of Freiburg’s opening game of the season against Waldhof Mannheim, he fell awkwardly with his arm outstretched and dislocated his elbow.

Having worked hard and waited patiently for two years to become Freiburg’s first-choice goalkeeper, the timing of the injury could not have been crueller.

“Out of the blue, I just started crying,” Flekken recalls. “The realisation kicked in – I realised what had been lost. It took me eight months to play a game again. It was devastating.”

Coming Up the Hard Way

For Flekken, discussing this chapter of his career is like opening an old wound. “It gets me even in this moment,” he admits.

This is because Flekken had earned his opportunity the hard way.

He made his professional debut for Alemannia Aachen in January 2013 against the backdrop of a financial crisis.

Having dropped out of 2 Bundesliga the season before, Alemannia Aachen filed for bankruptcy in late 2012 and were automatically relegated to the Regionalliga West [tier four] as a result.

“Because they didn’t have the money to get the paperwork done, the bigger players had to go,” Flekken reveals. “That opened the window for me to step in. A lot of young players were given their first chance to play in the third league.

“When you’re young, you’re not so much with your own thoughts. I was 19, happy about signing my first contract and excited to be playing my first games. I was living my dream, even in those circumstances.”

The following summer, thanks in part to a recommendation from his new goalkeeper coach Frederik Gößling, Flekken moved to second-tier side Greuther Fürth.

Despite Gößling’s endorsement, Flekken made only three league appearances in three years as a back-up goalkeeper behind Wolfgang Hesl and Sebastian Mielitz.

“I had a lovely time at Fürth, but it wasn’t the best three years on the pitch,” he admits.

“The idea was to go to the club, develop and see how things went. However, in my second season, I tore my ACL. I was young, far away from home and had a big injury, so that wasn’t an easy time.

“I got back, made my debut for the club after the ACL injury, and then at the start of the third season our number one [Hesl] left.

“They transferred a new goalkeeper [Mielitz] into the club, and they told us that it was an open fight: ‘Whoever wins is the new number one.’

“That summer, I f****d it up a bit; I put too much pressure on my own shoulders. I’d constantly be thinking, ‘Am I doing well enough? Is it this, is it that?’ My head wasn’t in the game like it should be.”

With opportunities limited at Greuther Fürth, Flekken signed for Duisburg in June 2016.

He cemented himself as the club’s first-choice stopper, missing just one league game as Duisburg won the title and secured an immediate return to 2 Bundesliga.

“That was a well-thought move and the kickstart of my career,” says Flekken. “It was a step back to the third league, and luckily, I got the chance to be their number one.

“They took a risk as well, because I hadn’t played a lot of games – only in the second team of Greuther Fürth.”

Flekken kept 15 clean sheets during Duisburg’s title-winning campaign and showed his worth at the other end of the pitch, too.

With Duisburg 1-0 down against Osnabrück in only their second game of the season, Flekken was sent up for a corner in stoppage-time…

“It came in, and at the first post our captain [Branimir Bajic] got up and headed the ball towards goal,” the 30-year-old recalls with a smile.

“I just made a reflex reaction with my studs. I pushed it just a little bit towards goal, and that was it!

“A lot of the players didn’t realise that I even touched the ball. After the game, the celebrations were a bit more intense!”

Unwanted Attention

Ingolstadt’s visit to Duisburg in February 2018 saw Flekken go viral.

Having saved a penalty in the 12th minute, he had just watched team-mate Enes Hajri head home Duisburg's second goal of the game. Everything, it seemed, was going to plan.

"I had seen the boys go off to celebrate in the corner and they weren't paying attention to the assistant referee. Then I switched off and wanted to go and drink," says Flekken, explaining why he turned his back on play.

An offside flag meant the goal was ruled out, and by the time Flekken had reached his water bottle lying in his net, it was almost immediately joined by the ball.

Ingolstadt forward Stefan Kutschke latched on to a back header intended for Flekken and fired the visitors level, leaving the keeper stood frozen behind his line in a goal that’s been likened to a FIFA glitch.

Fortunately for Flekken, Borys Tashchy's second-half penalty earned Duisburg all three points to keep Ilia Gruev's team behind third-placed Holstein Kiel only on goal difference.

“Luckily, we won the game, so it was a lot easier to deal with all of the fun [air quotes] around it than if we’d lost. That made it a lot easier,” Flekken continues.

“In every interview I had during the weeks after, there were always questions about that goal.

“For the first few weeks, I was like, ‘Okay, just let it happen.’ But after that point it got a little bit annoying!

“Now, after a few years, I accept that it happened and that it’s part of my career - I can’t change it. When somebody asks me about it, I’m laughing as well. We won, so I can laugh about it! It’s in the past now.”

Flekken’s famous water bottle raised more than €4,000 at auction, with the money donated to children's charity Zebrakids, which provides help to disadvantaged children in the Duisburg area. “We made something positive out if it,” he smiles.

Although Duisburg’s quest for back-to-back promotions ultimately ran out of steam, Flekken insists that a ninth-place finish surpassed all pre-season expectations.

“The objective was to not get relegated,” he says. “Just stay up and the rest doesn’t matter.

“We had a great season. Of course, we had the advantage of coming into the season having had a successful season before, so there was a terrific feeling in the whole squad. That got us through.”

Flekken’s performances hadn’t gone unnoticed by clubs higher up the pyramid and, in May 2018, after a campaign which saw him keep nine clean sheets in 31 league appearances, he signed for Bundesliga side Freiburg.

Stick to the Plan

Flekken had to wait until the final matchday of the 2018/19 season to make his Bundesliga debut for Freiburg, and then played 11 games in all competitions the following campaign.

So, having been a regular starter at Duisburg during two successful seasons, how did Flekken acclimatise to being a number two again?

“Maybe it sounds weird, but it was actually not hard,” he insists.

“Freiburg laid out a plan for me that was so clear, and that was one of the biggest things that convinced me to leave Duisburg.

“They said that after one or two years, I would be their number one: ‘We see a hell of a lot of potential in you, you’ve just got to be patient and hardworking.’ That convinced me to go there.”

Both parties stuck to the plan. In August 2020, following the departure of first-choice keeper Alexander Schwolow to Hertha BSC, a Bundesliga starting spot was Flekken’s to lose.

Then came the aforementioned elbow injury…

“It was so clearly dislocated, and it was impossible not to undergo surgery,” says Flekken.

“But the club said directly to me, after I made the choice to undergo surgery, that I didn’t need to worry and that they had my back: ‘You have our trust, just make sure you come back as fit, healthy and strong as possible and you’re going to be our number one.’

“That was a massive message for me during my rehabilitation. I had the trust from the club, and they lived up to their words.”

Making Up for Lost Time

Flekken returned to the fold for the final three games of the Bundesliga campaign and, following the summer break, maintained his status as Freiburg’s undisputed first-choice goalkeeper for the 2021/22 season.

Having spent eight months on the sidelines, the keeper was keen to make up for lost time – and that he did.

He began the season in impressive form, keeping four clean sheets during the opening 10 games as Freiburg made it to November unbeaten.

And Flekken’s performances for his club had caught the attention of his country. He was called up to Louis van Gaal’s Netherlands squad for the first time in November and earned his maiden caps against Denmark and Germany in March.

Flekken’s face lights up as he looks back on his first call-up: “Our team manager [Torsten Bauer] told me to come to his office one morning and just showed me the logo on the email – the orange lion. I was like, ‘No f*****g way! It just felt like it wasn’t true.”

Returning to his club following the highs of the March international break, Flekken helped Freiburg to a sixth-place finish in the Bundesliga as well as the German Cup final, which they lost to RB Leipzig on penalties before some 70,000 supporters at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Expectations were lowered the following term, taking into account the demands of an upcoming Europa League campaign, but they needn’t have been.

Freiburg competed on all fronts, finishing fifth in the Bundesliga and reaching the last 16 of the Europa League and the semi-final of the German Cup.

Flekken played 44 games in all competitions and kept a league-high 13 clean sheets.

“Because they’d had some bad experiences when playing in Europe during years before, the main goal was not to get relegated from the Bundesliga and enjoy playing in the Europa League,” says Flekken.

“We got into a flow from the very beginning of the season. The puzzle was complete in that moment.

“I have some great memories of that season. Our away game in Greece against Olympiacos - the fireworks, the fans. When fans are shouting in another language and you don’t understand, it fuels you. In those leagues, the fans have real power.

“Against Juventus, it was the same. Nobody expected little Freiburg to go through to the next round against a big name in Europe like Juventus, so we enjoyed it.”

A New Challenge

With Freiburg on an upward trajectory and Flekken an integral part of Christian Streich’s side, what was it that convinced him to leave Germany for the first time in his professional career and join Brentford?

“It’s a new challenge,” he responds. “I turned 30 in June, and I was in a moment where I had to choose to stay for several years or do something new.

“Brentford had made some really big effort to get me here over the last one and a half years.

“I’d had contact with Manu [Sotelo] and the coach [Thomas Frank]. The whole process of trying to get me here gave me such a good feeling. They were so invested in me, and really wanted me to be here.

“They showed me good things, and they also showed me things that I can improve. I always want to try to improve myself – I want to become the best possible version of me – so that perspective got to me.

“They didn’t just try to put honey around my mouth to spoil me; they were honest, and I liked that level of detail and the way they spoke with me.

“It’s a big challenge, and a dream to play in the Premier League.”

Flekken moved to west London having kept more clean sheets (22) than any goalkeeper in the Bundesliga over the previous two seasons, and he has two for Thomas Frank’s side courtesy of the Bees’ 3-0 wins over Fulham and Burnley.

But it is already evident that he offers more than an enviable tendency to shut out opponents.

Flekken ranks sixth in the Premier League for accurate long balls this season (61) and fourth for accurate short passes (202). He has only misplaced one of the 203 short passes he has attempted.

During the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth, Flekken took more touches (61) than any opposition player; Ethan Pinnock (67) and Christian Norgaard (62) the only players on the pitch to complete more passes than Brentford's no.1 (53).

“Some of it is natural, because I started out as an outfield player,” Flekken responds when asked about his impressive passing range.

“That base layer that I developed back in the day when playing outfield has helped me, even to this day. Of course, it is not only natural. It is a lot of hard work, repetition and practice.”

Flekken has quickly become the Bees’ last line of defence, as well as their first line of attack.