1.FSV Mainz 05 +670.000 €
Grade: C-
OK, so Mainz has no money. They made a profit on selling some players they weren’t going to keep, which was nice. But even though they only spent 2 million, it’s probably wasted money. It’s not clear if those signings will even contribute, so why spend anything?
Note: After I wrote this, Mainz signed Ivan Klasnic to a one year deal. The Croatian striker had been released by Bolton, so he was free to sign after the deadline. Mainz swooped in Monday night…
IN: Shawn Parker 1.FSV Mainz 05 II Júnior Díaz FC Brügge 80.000 € Chinedu Ede 1.FC Union Berlin 1.200.000 € Tobias Schilk 1.FSV Mainz 05 II Nikita Rukavytsya Hertha BSC 900.000 € Petar Sliskovic * FC St. Pauli Ivan Klasnic Bolton Wanderers OUT: Eugen Gopko (unknown) Mohamed Zidan Baniyas SC Zoltán Stieber SpVgg Greuther Fürth 900.000 € Fabian Schönheim * 1.FC Union Berlin 50.000 € Sami Allagui Hertha BSC 1.600.000 € Malik Fathi * Kayserispor 200.000 € Deniz Yilmaz * SC Paderborn 07 50.000 € Petar Sliskovic * Dynamo Dresden 50.000 € Anthony Ujah * 1.FC Köln Mario Gavranovic * FC Schalke 04
Hamburger SV -24.000.000 €
Grade: B-
HSV needed to make a move, and to management credit, they invested 27 million. However it will come down to whether ex-HSV hero Rafael van der Vaart still has it. If he can regain his old HSV form, he’ll be a hero again. Otherwise, an expensive fee just to get more pictures of his wife Sylvie in the tabloids. The other signings might be useful, but Hamburg has a lot to prove. There is some question on who is going to score goals. They also spent money on Calhanoglu, and then turned around and sent him back to KSC.
IN: Artem Rudnev Lech Posen 3.500.000 € René Adler Bayer 04 Leverkusen Christian Nörgaard Hamburger SV II Paul Scharner West Bromwich Albion Milan Badelj GNK Dinamo Zagreb 4.000.000 € Hakan Calhanoglu Karlsruher SC 2.500.000 € Petr Jirácek VfL Wolfsburg 4.000.000 € Rafael van der Vaart Tottenham Hotspur 13.000.000 € Maximilian Beister * Fortuna Düsseldorf Lennard Sowah * FC Millwall OUT: Romeo Castelen (unknown) Gökhan Töre Rubin Kazan 3.000.000 € Lennard Sowah Hamburger SV II Macauley Chrisantus UD Las Palmas Kevin Ingreso Hamburger SV II Mladen Petric FC Fulham Dániel Nagy VfL Osnabrück Miroslav Stepanek FK Senica Sören Bertram VfL Bochum Mickaël Tavares Chernomorets Burgas David Jarolím FC Évian Thonon Gaillard Hakan Calhanoglu * Karlsruher SC Muhamed Besic Ferencváros Budapest
SpVgg Greuther Fürth -1.200.000 €
Grade: C-
Promoted Fürth spent 2.5 million, but it’s not clear what they got. Fall and Stieber figure to see decent playing time, but not sure about the others. Losing Occean hurts their attack, although it’s not clear whether he’s Bundesliga quality. They’re basically going in with a 2.Liga squad, so they’ll have to fight to stay up. (I’m not saying they’re automatic relegation fodder, just that their buys don’t look like a lot of help)
IN: Ilir Azemi SpVgg Greuther Fürth II Tobias Mikkelsen FC Nordsjaelland 500.000 € Issa Ndoye Volyn Lutsk Zoltán Stieber 1.FSV Mainz 05 900.000 € Abdul Rahman Baba Dreamz FC Lasse Sobiech * Borussia Dortmund 100.000 € Thanos Petsos Bayer 04 Leverkusen 50.000 € Michael Hefele SpVgg Unterhaching Wolfgang Hesl Dynamo Dresden Thomas Pledl TSV 1860 München U19 Djiby Fall KSC Lokeren 800.000 € Franck Ohandza * Buriram United 50.000 € Edu * FC Schalke 04 100.000 € OUT: Dani Schahin Fortuna Düsseldorf Olivier Occéan Eintracht Frankfurt 1.300.000 € Asen Karaslavov Botev Plovdiv Fabian Baumgärtel * Alemannia Aachen Jasmin Fejzic VfR Aalen Franco Flückiger Hallescher FC Christian Dorda SC Heracles Almelo Stephan Schröck TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Christian Rahn Jahn Regensburg Kingsley Onuegbu * SV Sandhausen
Eintracht Frankfurt -5.150.000 €
Grade: B
As a “big” club, Frankfurt had a little more moeny to spend. However, they went for quantity instead of proven quality. They held much of their talent in the 2.Liga. They brought in several players that look to contribute.
IN: Erik Wille Eintracht Frankfurt U19 Vadim Demidov Real Sociedad 500.000 € Olivier Occéan SpVgg Greuther Fürth 1.300.000 € Takashi Inui VfL Bochum 1.200.000 € Marc-Oliver Kempf Eintracht Frankfurt U17 Marc Stendera Eintracht Frankfurt U17 Martin Lanig 1.FC Köln Bastian Oczipka Bayer 04 Leverkusen 500.000 € Stefano Celozzi VfB Stuttgart V Julian Dudda Eintracht Frankfurt U19 Alexander Hien Eintracht Frankfurt U19 Stefan Aigner TSV 1860 München Kevin Trapp 1.FC Kaiserslautern 1.500.000 € Anderson Borussia Mönchengladbach 800.000 € Erwin Hoffer * SSC Neapel 200.000 € Carlos Zambrano FC St. Pauli 1.200.000 € Dorge Kouemaha * FC Brügge 200.000 € OUT: Matthias Lehmann 1.FC Köln Mohamadou Idrissou 1.FC Kaiserslautern 450.000 € Gordon Schildenfeld Dinamo Moskau 1.500.000 € Marcos Álvarez Stuttgarter Kickers Dominik Schmidt Preußen Münster Habib Bellaid CS Sedan-Ardennes Ümit Korkmaz FC Ingolstadt 04 Ricardo Clark Houston Dynamo Caio César EC Bahia Georgios Tzavellas AS Monaco 300.000 € Thomas Kessler * 1.FC Köln Anderson * Borussia Mönchengladbach
Fortuna Düsseldorf -2.050.000 €
Grade: A or F
Seldom does a transfer period TOTALLY determine a club’s future. But that’s Fortuna this season. They basically dismantled their promotion squad and brought in all new players (on the cheap no less). IF they stay up, it was a brilliant move! A++! If they get relegated, it’s F. No middle ground here.
The only interesting moves made were bringing back Du-Ri Cha, who has bounced around in Germany quite a bit, and signing oldtimer Andrei Voronin, now with his 6th Bundesliga club. (See if you can name them, no cheating!). His other claim to fame is getting the 1,000th red card in the Bundesliga.
IN: Ronny Garbuschewski Chemnitzer FC Stelios Malezas PAOK Thessaloniki 450.000 € Aliosman Aydin Fortuna Düsseldorf II Nikos Papadopoulos Olympiakos Piräus 50.000 € Mazin Ahmed Alhuthayfi Al-Ittihad Dschidda Gerrit Wegkamp VfL Osnabrück V 250.000 € Tobias Levels Bor. Mönchengladbach 200.000 € Stefan Reisinger SC Freiburg 200.000 € Bastian Müller FC Bayern München II André Fomitschow VfL Wolfsburg II Du-Ri Cha Celtic Glasgow Nando Rafael FC Augsburg Fabian Giefer Bayer 04 Leverkusen 400.000 € Leon Balogun SV Werder Bremen II Axel Bellinghausen FC Augsburg Bruno Soares MSV Duisburg Dani Schahin SpVgg Greuther Fürth Ivan Paurevic Borussia Dortmund II Andriy Voronin * Dinamo Moskau 500.000 € Adriano Grimaldi * SV Sandhausen OUT: Sascha Rösler Alemannia Aachen Adriano Grimaldi VfL Osnabrück Sascha Dum (unknown) Ranisav Jovanovic MSV Duisburg Kai Schwertfeger Alemannia Aachen Michael Ratajczak (unknown) Thomas Bröker 1.FC Köln Assani Lukimya-Mulongoti SV Werder Bremen Markus Krauss Stuttgarter Kickers Jules Schwadorf Fortuna Düsseldorf II Maximilian Beister * Hamburger SV Tobias Levels * Borussia Mönchengladbach Villyan Bijev * FC Liverpool Reserves Adam Matuschyk * 1.FC Köln
Really hope Nikita Rukavytsa does well at Mainz. Watched him several years ago when he played in Perth and he was considered a true rising star with potential to play for the Aussie national team. He went to Holland and played quite weel earning a promotion to Hertha. He stuck through their promotion / relegation yoyo and now gets a chance at Mainz. More game time will set him up for a better chance to play in the national team on a regular basis
In your opinion will a third (or fourth?) team battle on equal terms with Bayern and Borussia?
I think it’s basically Bayern and Dortmund again. Usually there is at least one club that rises to the occasion and challenges, but it’s not sustainable. Bayern of course is a given, given their tradition and massive resources. Dortmund has built a good side and has recovered from their financial difficulties, so they look to become a more permanent rival. Schalke is where Dortmund was a few years ago. They could become a 3rd force, but not yet…their finances don’t allow it, since they carry the debt from the new stadium. Clubs that potentially challenge on a regular basis, like Stuttgart, Bremen and Hamburg are all in semi-chaos or transition now. I suppose Leverkusen could, but only if Bayer went crazy with money, which won’t happen. Teams like Gladbach and Hannover are flash-in-the-pan..don’t be surprised if they’re fighting relegation in a couple of seasons.
I wish this were a permanent question (‘can any other team join the Bayern/Dortmund battle’). Realistically – by which I mean a view grounded in history – the more acute question is: can Dortmund truly pose a long(er)-term challenge to Bayern. And even though (perhaps) everything looks better than it ever did for Dortmund (great coach, responsible management, good academy), the answer is still wide open. The good news about Dortmund’s challenge is that even Gladbach (similar support/infrastructure) could do it. But will they? I’m hopeful, yet skeptical – again, based in history. Look where HSV or Bremen are right now.
I think you’ve hit the nail on the head. Can Dortmund keep up the pace and become the permanent second force in German football? After all, in the late 90s and early 2000s, Dortmund was flying high. But then the floor gave way and they almost went bankrupt. One would like to think that they are much more conscious of financial management this time around, and that they will be able to sustain their growth.
Gladbach on the other hand, I just don’t think they will be able to scale the heights and maintain it…they should be happy avoiding relegation.