Thank you, Leo!

Our club used the contract option to part ways with guard Leo Westermann.

The French National Team player joined our team in the summer of 2017 but could not show his best because of hip (October) and back (May) injuries that required surgeries and long rehab periods. Overall Westermann played 30 games in red and blue uniform (8 starts) averaging 5.3 points, 1.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 0.5 steals in 14.2 minutes.

Andrey Vatutin, CSKA Moscow President:

Probably, my comment doesn’t suit the format of official website but this is the case when you want to say more than just official statement. To our deep regret, practically all last season when I answered the questions about Leo, I had to say something like “wait, he will recover and play well”. Two injuries happened, one of them is enormously absurd, it made him spent three weeks in hospital, actually three weeks in bad with the wound open due to medical reasons… Then crutches, 2 months of rehab, of getting the shape back, several good games – and another injury, this time to his back, another visit to hospital. The circumstances were above us all. I can say only very good words about Leo. He proved himself to be a true professional, comrade-in-arms, reliable teammate, just a great and cheerful guy who was always fighting the circumstances and never gave up. I sincerely hope that we remain good friends and we will stay in touch. My biggest hope is that Westermann spent all his reservoir of bad luck, because the injury that took so much time out of him is one of the rarest in sports, due to the medics. I sincerely wish Leo to forget about health issues, to run into white stripe and use his obvious basketball talent in full. And you cannot exclude the possibility that we will still play together one day.

Dimitris Itoudis, CSKA head coach:

I have huge admiration to Leo as a person and athlete. He was always a fighter on the floor and against all odds. Unfortunately, he was led by unlucky injuries all past year, they did not allow him to play on the level that he can play. Leo was always an inspiration for everyone around with his work ethic, devotion and desire to play for CSKA. I wish him all the best in upcoming season, to come back healthy and strong.