Team News 2016/2017

Zakaria looks interesting, but I'm curious about the price tag. I think the midfield will be a strength with Kramer & Benes, and Cuisance should be ready in the second half of the season. So I would rather see money being spent on a young RB like Troupee, a young CB talent like Retsos, and another attacker like Fekir / Onyekuru / Vlasic / Schrijvers / Avdijaj / Cerny / Hagi / Carlos Mane.

Although that is all possible on top of Zakaria, if the price tag doesn't get too hefty.

 

sounds like we are poor like a churchmouse and the whole team is on the verge of collapse ;-)
except from the big fish and the premiership-clubs we are in a pretty comfortable situation: internationally experienced leading players are extending their contracts one after another and promising international youngsters are willing to sign: not that much clubs on the continent like that! not that many seasons in the past we were even close to that!
but I‘m over-interpretating your ‚help everywhere‘... I‘m pretty sure ;-)))

but yes, generally I agree … I was always more interested in searching for underrated diamonds in not that well known leagues (at least Borussia is scouting MLS [RP mentioned Larin, too] at all, not sure all clubs over here are doing that) than going for the usual suspects
but to tell the truth:
a) there aren‘t that much MLS-players who left a lasting impression in Bundesliga so far
b) a lot of soccer-related people (some call them ‚experts‘, haha) still look at MLS like a kind of operetta-league/pensioner-league (Strunz f.e., ok he isn‘t that smart, he told Kruse to move to Wolfsburg ;-) which, of course, has a snobbish/arrogant flavor… I guess this definitely will be changing the next years
but that‘s maybe why directors of sport might be a little bit cautious: the laugh is always on the loser (even if the price tag isn‘t that high)

my impression: even the old (and affordable) Borussia-hunting-grounds Scandinavia (Crist. & Veste obviously don‘t count) and Eastern Europe (Benes again an exception, I guess the matches against Bilbao were vital) are apparently a little bit out of focus right now
closely examined in contrast are the ‚hot‘ soccereducational countries right on the doorstep: Belgium, Switzerland and overall France (even the Netherlands somewhat have been lost along the way)… grab them Under-X-young before EPL takes notice seems to be the motto of the day (even more than scouting far away I wish Borussia had signed Courtois and de Bruyne… they got their education an hour‘s drive away)… maybe at the end the 'low'-price-tag-question sometimes is: do I choose an 18 year old who has shown huge talent in U-X matches over a player like Larin who already has some experience in a men‘s team

I‘m healthy, too! (at least physically)... when I asked, Max said: healthy is not enough!
but yes that‘s definitely a problem since Favre left… or/and since Hoppenheim poached athletic-coach Weigl… there was a research about injuries (comprising three or four seasons) then and we were leading the Bundesliga-pack on healthiness like B$yern do on points… good old times!

yeah, de Jong … Drmic… don‘t buy any target-attackers!… keep signing fake niners!... some say
the begging is strictly in case of Christensen (his character I guess + last time I looked he was leading Bundesliga on won 1on1s) … this is not becoming a habit
but let your desire become true: the MLS should be gaining ground PLUS (I didn‘t factcheck but I guess other than most of the south americans) even interesting players from Honduras, El Salvador, Costa Rica etc. might be using MLS as a stepping stone…
MX: I liked Osorio and especially Pardo at VfB; at the moment Fabián is attracting attention

I recently read a piece about scouting in ‚smaller‘ leagues: years ago there were a lot of intern. scouts at Teplice (Czech Rep.) all interested in Martin Fenin (he then was even linked to Barcelona)… at the end he became a barely mediocre Bundesliga-player… little by little two Golfsburg scouts became interested in the other attacker but weren‘t sure about him for quite some time… finally they made up their mind and urged Magath to sign him… at first his swiftness of action and physicality have left much to be desired and Magath already started nagging in front of the scouts…. but the player adapted himself within some months and at the end Dzeko became one of the best Bundesliga-attackers of the last decade
my hyper-intellectual conclusion: some make it and some don‘t and if Larin is one of the former we should sign him!!!

 

yes, 10M sounds a little bit pricey
but then again I try to not worry that much about transfer fees... it's gotten a little bit complicated by now
the times of you-put-that-amount-of-money-in-a-suitcase-and-we-have-a-deal are over
f.e. the Dahoud-transfer: we neither know for sure if there was a buyout-clause at all nor do we know for sure how much money actually has flowed nor how much money will flow if X, Y or Z happens in the future... the media have some figures, of course, they have to write SOMEthing... but more often than not it seems like that one media comes up with a rule of thumb figure and the rest of the media parroting it
the clubs stopped declaring frankly what's going on... the latest model seems to be to even hide the term of a contract

I hope you're right regarding Cuisance
agree regarding CB: a young talent might be enough without European matches (Hecking seems pretty confident about Kolo and while I'm more than willing to give Cuisance a full season I desperately want to see Doucouré finally entering the CB-scene in action)... there is a Sané (H96) rumor I'm not taking serious at all
some guesswork around here at the moment regarding the attack: some people claim that Hecking likes playing with a big center-attacker (Selke? rather not) in front... I don't think Hecking is planning to totally convert our offensive play like that (a little bit old style, too + we lack the appropriate wingers for that) but he might be looking for an additional & slightly different option of style in front... maybe Villalba is the answer, saw him getting a red one in Paraguay, looks like a fun loving child ;-)
anyway I would prefer L'pools Mané over Carlos Mane ;-)

Eberl recently spoke about reducing the squad
with Christensen and Dahoud gone and at least three to come the interesting question is who are the candidates to leave:
1. Korb?
2. Hahn (Bremen-rumor)?
3. Schulz, M.?
4. Schulz, N. (may be he is demanding more playing time)?
5. Sow on loan?
Herrmann is barely 50% he once was but I don't think the club is urging him to leave
Hofmann isn't exactly appreciated on the stands but Hecking seems to be his biggest supporter
I myself would welcome a highly ridiculous EPL-offer for Hazard (only if Raffael regains his former strength, of course ;-): he just doesn't take the step from nice-to-look-at towards make-the-difference on a constant basis... or maybe I just should have a little bit more patience
can't imagine anybody offering unlucky Drmic a contract (unfortunately I'm not sure if he is ever gonna kick ball again)

while Vestergaard ended our heading-harmlessness, Grifo (if he finally signs!) is ending our freekick-harmlessness (because I didn't see that much matches this season I'm wondering myself if Grifo is to better use in central or left midfield... or if there will be constant position-changing)

 

heavy heavy Terodde rumors at the moment
a classical center-striker (what we call 'Knippser' over here) close to what LuckyStriker said about Larin: "might bring some worthwhile different looks to Gladbach's attack arsenal"
50 goals in the last two 2.Bundesliga seasons
seems to be a leader-type with a 5?M buyout
yes, Hecking is sorely missing effectiveness up front
yes, Hecking liked to play 4-2-3-1 in the past (but on the other hand he recently told that a coach shouldn't have any system-fixation)
what doesn't fit at all: his age in combination with his Bundesliga experience (0 matches! BuLi isn't only more difficult, it's "different", too
surely fine as an 'option' if offense is jammed again, but as a starter? rather a replacement for Drmic/Hahn I guess (if the rumor is not totally unfounded at all)

according to portuguese sources Moreto Cassamã (off. midfield, U19, FC Porto, from another 'hot' soccer-educational country I didn't mention above because not heavily explored by Bundesliga so far) is signing for Borussia... seems we might call up a kiddie-midfield next season with grandpa Kramer as the custodial leader cow

 

according to SC Freiburg Grifo is leaving
according to KICKER he is coming... to Borussia of course...

 

@Bananenflanke: Is this guy mobile ? Healthy?

@HANS-GUNTER BRUNS : Are you alive ? Seriously.........

 

Yes guys.....dealing with a horrible trip abroad....had no time whatsoever to get online...and some family issues that are driving me crazy.But thanks for being concerned

 

Never have I been more concerned over somebody I haven't officially met.........did you ever get what I sent you about your boy Cecil?

 

Yes sir i did...that was before i left remember???