2023-24 German Bundesliga Discussion Thread

[Foye]

Leverkusen are going to be nice once Schick returns. The new guy Boniface reminds me a bit of a younger Lukaku

[-Luke-]

First former Werder player David Philipp scores against us in a loss in the first cup round, today former Werder player Maximilian Philipp scores against us in a loss in Freiburg.

If we ever have a Philipp again we should give him a contract for life.

[-Luke-]

First former Werder player David Philipp scores against us in a loss in the first cup round, today former Werder player Maximilian Philipp scores against us in a loss in Freiburg.

If we ever have a Philipp again we should give him a contract for life.

[Foye]

1-1 draw against Frankfurt.

Feels like a loss should’ve put the game to bed earlier.

Gruda is the real deal, though.
He was running wild on Frankfurt defense on a position that he is not even used to play (CF). Amazing talent. This guy and Weiper. I am waiting for them to physically mature.

[Foye]

Looks like we might sell Stach to Hoffenheim.

That would be an inexcusable blunder by management if the transfer fee is below 20 mil.

[-Luke-]

Füllkrug to Dortmund. Don't trust Bild, but if it's really 13 million + 1 million bonus, the entire club management has to step down immediately. I remember when Mourinho publicly made fun of Werder because Real had to pay so little for Özil. This is even worse with today's prices. This club is the biggest joke in European football if that happens.

Edit:
Dortmund fans seem to be unhappy too. I understand. Their transfers this summer were not exactly creative.

I hope we at least get a good left-back and possibly a new center-back with the money.

[Foye]

Füllkrug to Dortmund. Don't trust Bild, but if it's really 13 million + 1 million bonus, the entire club management has to step down immediately. I remember when Mourinho publicly made fun of Werder because Real had to pay so little for Özil. This is even worse with today's prices. This club is the biggest joke in European football if that happens.

Edit:
Dortmund fans seem to be unhappy too. I understand. Their transfers this summer were not exactly creative.

I hope we at least get a good left-back and possibly a new center-back with the money.

Same in Mainz inexcusable blunder if Stach is sold for such a low sum.

Well, I don’t want management to step down. They are generally doing a decent job but selling low a couple days before the window ends. I hate it. No time left to strengthen the squad but opponent gets better.
Feels like there is no vision to develop the club further financially than the status quo.

On the other side you see Frankfurt squeezing every penny out of Muani who had one great season and isn’t even that young. That’s how it is done.

Not a good sign for Werder if Füllkrug leaves to be honest.

[Foye]

Looks like the Stach deal fell apart.
Nice. Either Hoffenheim need to come in with a big last minute offer or he is staying.

[-Luke-]

Looks like the Stach deal fell apart.
Nice. Either Hoffenheim need to come in with a big last minute offer or he is staying.

Apparently Hoffenheim offered less than ten million. That's almost shameless to even call Mainz with that. Good that Heidel stands firm. Will be interesting too see if Eintracht really stands firm with Kolo Muani as well.

I wish Baumann would have done the same. But with our fiancial situation there is less wiggle room. At least they reinvested some of the money in Deman and one or two others could follow tomorrow. But losing your best and most important player, as a relegation candidate and after losing the first three games (including cup), one day before the end of the transfer window. That's tough.

[Foye]

Looks like the Stach deal fell apart.
Nice. Either Hoffenheim need to come in with a big last minute offer or he is staying.

Apparently Hoffenheim offered less than ten million. That's almost shameless to even call Mainz with that. Good that Heidel stands firm. Will be interesting too see if Eintracht really stands firm with Kolo Muani as well.

I wish Baumann would have done the same. But with our fiancial situation there is less wiggle room. At least they reinvested some of the money in Deman and one or two others could follow tomorrow. But losing your best and most important player, as a relegation candidate and after losing the first three games (including cup), one day before the end of the transfer window. That's tough.

Bremen can start winning once they lost the fourth game in a row. We need to get the first win of the season tomorrow.

I agree with you though. Bremens strength last season was that you had a top duo up front with Füllkrug and Ducksch. Remove Füllkrug and it is going to be much harder to find goals while defense ain’t a strength either.

Even 13 mil. is pretty insulting for Stach. Even if he hasn’t always shown it. He has a unique combination of physical attributes and skill. But we are not exactly good at selling our top players at maximum value.
The mistake already starts when we sign players. Usually, even if it is a top talent we will give them a four year contract. I‘ll never understand why we are not doing five year contracts for top talents. Plus: We don’t start contract renewals with our players soon enough before the deal ends. We could have 18 y/o Messi on our hands and we would not talk with him about extending his contract until 18 months before the contract ends.
Stach is most likely still on the same low Euro contract that he signed with Mainz during Covid times (when everyone was offering lower salaries). Hoffenheim can probably easily offer him 2.5 times his current salary because we didn’t even offer him a raise.

As for Eintracht: I think they can’t afford to not cash in Muani. 80-100 mil. is a lot of money for a single player.
They have lost a lot of players (Kamada, Sow, Ndicka) and some other key players are getting washed up (Rode, Trapp, Hasebe, Götze) age wise. The roster really isn‘t looking that great to me. Although they made a good signing with Chaibi recently.
Anyway, with or without Muani. I don’t see them reaching the European spots this year while playing Conference League. Best to cash in on Muani now and collect cash to strengthen the team in the next transfer windows.

I see Bayern, Leipzig, Leverkusen, Dortmund, Wolfsburg, Freiburg and Union ahead of them.

[Foye]

Sold Stach for 10+additional bonus payments.

I am shocked tbh.

How in hell do you want to develop your club if you accept terrible offers two years before contract runs out.

[Foye]

Dortmund starting the season with a total of 3 center backs.

Good luck if one of them gets injured. Maybe they are signing Füllkrug as a CB? LOL

[-Luke-]

Could be a hard season for Dortmund. I see Leverkusen and Leipzig pretty clearly better right now.

Bayern also rather thin on some positions, after giving up Gravenberch, Pavard and Stanisic without getting a player back on the last day of the transfer window. But it should be enough anyway and they can react in winter. But Tuchel must be pretty pissed right now after not getting a 6.

[Foye]

Could be a hard season for Dortmund. I see Leverkusen and Leipzig pretty clearly better right now.

Bayern also rather thin on some positions, after giving up Gravenberch, Pavard and Stanisic without getting a player back on the last day of the transfer window. But it should be enough anyway and they can react in winter. But Tuchel must be pretty pissed right now after not getting a 6.

If either Union, Wolfsburg or Freiburg can string together a great start to the season (all with two wins already) they might be legit contenders for the CL spots, too.

I would really not be surprised to see Dortmund miss the CL spots this year.

That said, I am a bit depressed right now looking at Mainz roster. Before the window I thought it would be hard not to improve the roster over last year.
Now, I think the roster stagnated at best and has more holes. Probably still good enough to stay in the league but not good enough to improve on last year.

[Foye]

Gruda with his first start today.

[Foye]

Hertha losing 6:4 at Magdeburg after leading 4 times.

[Foye]

Welp, we will be in the battle against relegation. Piss poor performance today

[-Luke-]

I was pretty pessimistic before the game, so this is a pleasant surprise. Our younger guys finally got a chance.

[Baphomet]

Gladbach leading Bayern 1-0 from a looping Itakura header.

[Foye]

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Cw-jVk2Nl7F/?igshid=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==


https://x.com/mainz05en/status/1700830689577337073?s=46&t=NPSxzHI0TqwFE1FBDSh0oQ

News of the weekend:

1) Klopp returned home.
2) Prince Harry is officially a 05er bandwagoner now.
3) German NT lost again.