Stoke City signing Mame Biram Diouf is happy to be returning to Germany for preseason.
Diouf had a testing two-and-a-half seasons in the Bundesliga with Hanover.
"The way they play is always competitive," the 26-year-old striker told The Sentinel, "and we have to be prepared for it.
"Even in a pre-season game, it is not going to be easy and they will always try to win it, so you have to do the same.
"No matter which team you are playing in Germany now, you have to say they win the World Cup and they must be good.
"The best team won it," Diouf added, referring to the Germans' 1-0 extra-time victory over Argentina in last Sunday's World Cup final at the Maracana Stadium in Rio. "They definitely worked well as a team and were really organised. They just needed one goal to finish it off - and they got it.
"We have been on our holiday, and it has been long because of the World Cup, so now it's for us to get a lot of games in because the season starts very soon (on August 16)."
