Speaking to the Danish outlet Bold, the left-back, now under contract with Hertha BSC, opened up at length about his relationship with Wagner and made serious allegations against his former coach.
"The relationship between me and Sandro Wagner deteriorated from week to week. During one match he took off a left-back, but did not bring me on, and there was discord within the team," Pedersen explained.
At one stage, Wagner even dropped the Dane from the squad despite a clear need at left-back: "Several players went to Sandro to ask him why he was not using me, even when the other left-back could not play. He did not want to hear any of it. Yet I was training well and doing what I could. I provided assists in friendly matches."
Why did Sandro Wagner consider his player a "rat"?
Pedersen and Wagner were also said to have clashed several times away from football matters, with the coach accusing the 30-year-old of passing internal information to the media, for example: "It really escalated, and suddenly he considered me a rat, as he so nicely put it. Every time a meeting took place, he said there were rats in the dressing room, and we were two players who knew exactly who he was referring to. Because we were the ones who were never in the squad."
Eventually, Pedersen had to seek legal help to force his way back into training. "A few weeks went by in which lawyers and so on were involved, and after about four weeks we agreed that it would probably be best if I came back to training. The club made Sandro Wagner apologise for what had happened. A week later he was dismissed. He had lost control of the dressing room."
IMAGOWhich clubs are Mads Pedersen and Sandro Wagner now under contract with?
During the 2025/26 season, Pedersen was still in the squad under Wagner for the first three Bundesliga matches, but after that Augsburg left him out entirely until the end of November.
After a 3-0 defeat to TSG Hoffenheim, Wagner was ultimately dismissed and Manuel Baum took charge at FCA. Under him, Pedersen featured more regularly before a knee injury held him back again at the end of the season.
Pedersen now wears the shirt of second-tier side Hertha BSC, while Wagner, after nine months without a job, recently signed on as the new head coach of Hannover 96.