In the last few hours of the transfer window, there was movement again in the player market. Julian Weigl returns to the Bundesliga after two and a half years in Portugal. The midfielder is initially on loan from Borussia Mönchengladbach until the end of the season from Benfica Lisbon.
“Julian is an enormously sure ball player and a strong player,” said sporting director Roland Virkus in praise of the international, who last played for the DFB team in March: “He has a lot of Bundesliga experience and quality football and will certainly be able to help our team quickly .”
The 26-year-old Weigl played for Borussia Dortmund from 2015 to the end of 2019 and won the DFB Cup with BVB in 2017. At Benfica Lisbon, after German coach Roger Schmidt took office in the summer, he only made three substitutions in eight competitive games.
Max Kruse also does not get beyond the role as a reservist at VfL Wolfsburg. The attacker commented on Thursday about rumors about leaving the Autostadt. “No, I’m not changing. I know it’s deadline day. But I’m staying in Wolfsburg,” announced the 34-year-old attacker in an Instagram video on Thursday.
There had been a lot of speculation in recent weeks about Kruse’s possible departure because the former national player lost his status as an undisputed regular player with the new coach Niko Kovac. A transfer could now be an issue in the winter at the earliest, even if transfers to the USA are possible again.
Wolfsburg’s competitor RB Leipzig, on the other hand, managed a small coup shortly before the end of the transfer period. Leipzig signed defender Abdou Diallo; the German cup winner announced on Thursday afternoon. The 26-year-old Paris Saint-Germain centre-back is on loan for this season. The rental fee is said to be 1.5 million euros.
“I am very happy to be part of this strong team and to be able to play in the RBL jersey. It’s nice to be back in the Bundesliga,” emphasized Diallo, who won nine national titles with PSG in three years and lost the Champions League final against FC Bayern (0-1) in 2020.
The national player from Senegal still has a valid contract with PSG until June 30, 2024, but was not used in the current season. The left foot, who was once also trained at AS Monaco, who moved from the Principality to Mainz in 2017 and was then transferred to Borussia Dortmund a year later, is to replace national player Lukas Klostermann in Leipzig after his syndesmosis ligament operation.
Satisfaction prevails at Herhta BSC. That’s why Fredi Bobic had already declared the transfer window for the club closed before it expired. “We are satisfied with what we did, that was more than 30 transfer movements,” said the sporting director on “Sky”, “with the last transfer from Krzystof Piatek our activities are complete.” With the loan from Piatek to the Italian First division club US Salernitana have been able to remove a high earner from the payroll and thus come close to the economic requirements.
“I’ll look at it in detail tomorrow. We had certain requirements that we had to and wanted to meet. We have achieved a double-digit transfer plus and also reduced personnel costs,” said Bobic, who, despite the opening of some markets such as Belgium and Turkey, no longer expects any great movements: “The majority is done, now I can finally go to the hairdresser again .”
Promoted Schalke 04 strengthened again in the offensive. The Royal Blues signed an old acquaintance in Kenan Karaman from Besiktas Istanbul. The Turkish national player, who has a three-year contract and is moving on a free transfer, was born in Stuttgart and has already played in the Bundesliga for TSG Hoffenheim, Hannover 96 and most recently Fortuna Düsseldorf. On the offensive, Schalke are nominally well positioned with Simon Terodde, Sebastian Polter and Marius Bülter, who has scored three times so far. Nevertheless, the traditional club is still without a win with four goals after four games.
“Kenan brings the right mix of physicality and speed from our point of view and is therefore an option for all positions on the offensive,” sporting director Rouven Schröder was quoted as saying in a club statement on Thursday. “In addition to his sporting quality, his experience from more than 100 Bundesliga games and over 30 international matches in the fight for league can be a factor, especially in the tight, decisive moments.”
