Bundesliga misc news

Marco Reus was named kicker’s Fussballer des Jahres (Player of the Year). He had a brilliant campaign with Gladbach, made the solid jump into the national team, did well in Euro 2012 and started off great with new club Dortmund. Couldn’t ask for much more.

The biggest news however is that Bayern München plunked down 40 million euros to sign Basque defensive midfielder Javi Martinez for 40 million euros. I believe this is a Bundesliga record, the previous being Mario Gomez for 35 million and Frank Ribery for 25 million, Arjen Robben 24 million (See the pattern? Guess who?) Bayern has been haggling with Bilbao for weeks, and apparently they’ve finally agreed. It will be interesting how the Spaniard fits in, perhaps it indicates that Schweinsteiger will be concentrating more on attack now that cover is available.

Wolfsburg has sent DM Petr Jiracek to Hamburg. Rumour is that Felix Magath is looking at bringing in a couple of new players.

Relegated 1. FC Köln GK Michael Rensing has transferred to Bayer Leverkusen. This is somewhat of a surprise, since Bernd Leno has established himself as clear no.1 in chemical town. (He booted Rene Adler’s ass off to HSV). I’m a bit surprised, because Rensing was actually fairly decent at 1. FC Köln, you could hardly blame the relegation on him. He certainly had redeemed himself from his crappy Bayern season. But Köln was jettisoning all pricy salaries, so he had to leave. You’d think he might have looked for a starting job, but I guess he’s content to sit on the bench and collect the paycheck.

Another “interesting” signing was Kaiserslautern picking up Alexander Baumjohann from Schalke. Baumjohann was considered one of the young rising superstars after the 2009 season with Gladbach. Then he made the mistake of signing with Bayern and got the dreaded Bankholzsplinterimarschverletzung, after warming the bench too much. So off to Schalke to revive is career. Well, strike two apparently. Let’s see how he fairs. I think he’s only around 24, so in theory he could still make a move, but perhaps that train has left the station.

How ’bout some other promising youngsters whose careers were essentially flushed down the toilet after the big transfer to Bayern? You have any favorites? Go ahead and post your suggestions….

Ivica Horvat died at age 86. He was a Yugoslavian international in the 1950s, and then moved to Germany with Frankfurt, first as a player, then as a coach as they became a founding member of the Bundesliga.. He is best known as a coach for Schalke in the early 70s, when the young squad burst on the scene to challenge Bayern. (Didn’t last long, as they collapsed soon after – however, he did win the Cup, as the Blues blasted Kaiserslautern 5-0). He coached Rot-Weiss Essen and Westfalia Herne later (ha, bet you don’t remember them that well, eh?) before returning to Schalke, but had little success.

 

 

12 thoughts on “Bundesliga misc news

  1. Didn’t Sebastian Diesler go to Bayern and then have his breakdown?

    Unfortunatly money talks, and young talented players are convinced to le\ave their original clubs by their agents, who get a cut of any deal, end up at Bayern and then see their carrers go by the wayside.

    I’d rather play for a lesser team, but actually play, than sit on the bench at Bayern!

    • Deisler immediately came to my mind too, although he did have some decent playing time and performances at Bayern, but his nerves got the better of him. Plus he had several internationals. I would agree he never reached the promise he showed at Hertha. Podolski looked like he would flame out there too, but he was smart enough to get out quick and perhaps salvage his career. Certainly Olic wasted his time at Bayern, although I’m sure his wallet found it agreeable.

  2. “You’d think he might have looked for a starting job, but I guess he’s content to sit on the bench and collect the paycheck.”

    A shame that you write stuff like that. He said he doesn’t want be a no.2 again. He said he’d even play 2nd Bundesliga to be a first goalkeeper. He only signed to Leverkusen as a no.2 , because he didn’t have any concrete offer (he said that in an interview) for a starting job .

    If he had wanted the money he could even have stayed at Cologne (his contract lasted one more year) while being sure he wouldn’t even play any game, but get payed at the same. His earnings are certainly lower in Leverkusen than in Cologne.

    • I understand what you’re saying, but I disagree. Of course he doesn’t want to be the no.2 – what would you expect him to say in an interview? Rensing is from what I’ve seen a reasonable keeper, probably a no.1, at least at the 2.Liga level. And starting jobs are not easy to come by – so I understand he might not have had an offer. However, by going to Leverkusen he is not going to play. Seriously, Bernd Leno was probably the best keeper in the Bundesliga last season. How is Rensing not settling for being a no.2? (Of course, nobody wants to sit on the bench, I was being facetious…but that’s the whole point of the blog. I’m sure I’ve offended others before and they no longer read my rantings.) I’m not much of a Cologne fan, so I’m not privy to the issues there. But if his contract was still good for a year (and not automatically dissolved due to relegation), he could have stayed and fought for the job…with the idea of moving somewhere else. Certainly his replacements at Cologne have not been brilliant. By going to Leverkusen he’s basically saying that he’ll settle for being no.2. I suppose Leno could start to suck or get injured, but it doesn’t seem likely.

  3. Well, obviously there has never been the possibility for him to fight for the job in Cologne. You need to know that Cologne is almost insolvent. So with the relegation it was clear that there would be a lot of money (regarding ticket sale etc.) missing in the 2nd Bundesliga…that’s why they told 14 players (mostly the expensive ones) who partially had running contracts that they have to leave the club. They got thrown out of the first team and exlcuded from the training. Another thousand times the clubs officials emphasized that there was no possibility for any of them ever to come back to the team. That official degradation from the club regarding the players also dropped the players sale-values. They didn’t even talk to Rensing before they separated him out.

    Rensing, who said in an interview before that he’d like to stay in Cologne before getting to know that they didn’t want him as a goalkeeper anymore, got trouble with the clubs officials for saying so (yeah, it’s a predication from Rensing of an official interview).

    I think Rensing didn’t only say that he’d want to be number one, but would have accepted a number two at another club in secret (as you think)…he waited for a number-one-offer until the last days of the transfer periode. Just because he didn’t get any he accepted Leverkusens’s offer..

    I guess you know that he has alreadybeen without a club for half a year about two years ago before he signed to Cologne. Another year of staying in contract in Cologne without having a chance to return to the team, would certainly have killed his career forever….that would mean the career’s end

    He had to play somewhere just to stay in the prfessional footballer’s bussiness. Leverkusen told him that he takes a backup-role for Leno…but he doesn’t want to accept any number two-position for a longer time. Rensing just hopes to return as a first keeper in some time (that’s why the contract just takes one year) by advising for himself when he is at a bigger club like Leverkusen..

    Puh, long texting…I hope you still read it.

    • OK, OK, you win :)

      It’s actually more of a commentary on Köln than on Rensing. This famous club has been run by idiots for quite a while. I can understand them wanting to get rid of high-priced contracts, but a contract is exactly that: a contract. You pay regardless of whether the player plays or not. Treating them like crap hardly improves the chances of some other club coming in. But I can’t say I’m suprised, as it seems par for the course for one of the worst run clubs in Germany. Why not play the guys when you try to move them? Certainly better than their clowns currently dominating the 2.Liga…not. Lucky for Köln these players aren’t looking for a year vacation…

      Hopefully things work out for Rensing. I doubt he’ll find a Bundesliga no.1, but since he’s apparently willing to take a wage cut, I’m sure somebody will be interested down the road.

  4. Hey, thanks for reading all those lines. I’m living in Germany sometimes and I read a lot about the bundesliga when I’m away, that’s why I know all those goalkeepers stuff. Cologne is definitely a really bad runned club…but I mean they have chosen a new management, maybe things will change some time soon..

    Good blogging btw..

    • Actually, Rensing is probably better off out of Köln. Not only has the club been run by some clueless amateurs, but there appears to be a nut-case element in their fan base. What I’m talking about is the Kevin Pezzoni situation. Basically he’s been threatened in front of his house, his car vandalized, punched in the nose, etc. by Köln “fans”. I feel sorry for coach Holger Stanislawski, who seems like a decent chap, having to give a press conference explaining it all and that the club agreed to terminate Pezzoni’s contract so he could go somewhere else. Perhaps another relegation would be a good thing…

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