Any Stuttgart VfB fans out there? If you have any transfer info, post it here! I'll start: Florien Klein (ex-Red Bull Salzburg) is going to VfB on a free. He is a right fullback. http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...-vfb-abloesefrei.html#omrss_team_vfbstuttgart
From the StZ article and twitter, here is some speculation on off-season moves: Ibrahima Traoré - Gone Arthur Boka - Gone Cacau - Probably gone Vedad Ibisevic - Hopefully gone Mohammed Abdellaoue - Hopefully gone Konstantin Rausch - Hopefully gone Florian Klein/RB - In Jonathan Schmid/RW - Possible Julian Schieber/S - Possible Grzegorz Krychowiak/DMF - Possible Timothy Chandler/RB - Already got Klein Yohan Benalouane/CB - Rumored Srdjan Spiridonovic/LW - Rumored Caiuby/LW - Rumored Filip Starzynski/AM - Rumored Hopefully we can get Schmid, although he doesn't play the same side, to make up for the loss of Traoré. A lot of young and unproven players on that list. We need some of our acquisitions to stay long-term, or the revolving door will continue to spin and we'll always be rebuilding.
A couple Swiss players now mentioned being linked to VfB. Basel's Valentin Stocker, LW, Swiss NT, and plenty of experience in European competition. A sure upgrade over other young prospect options. And should be able to contribute right away. Bobic reported to be seen scouting at a game and interested, though would be a more expensive transfer potentially. 6 mio is estimated to be the fee. Other player is teammate Fabian Frei, a versatile central midfielder who can also cover in CB, & AM. He's also a good player but would also come costly. I'd also place more emphasis on acquiring a quality wing attacker along with striker and defensive reinforcements.
I'd like Ibisevic to stick around. Despite the recent form, he's proven to be quite capable in the past. I'm sure he can recapture that, especially since Maxim/Didavi are both pretty competent and playing well lately. Agreed on the winger and CB suggestions.
Moa Abdellaoue can go. According to some reports, Hannover is interested in taking him back for a fee around 2 mio. Still a net loss on original transfer but gets rid of an inefficient player. Also clears salary space with some useful additional funds to boost the budget.
http://bazonline.ch/sport/fussball/Wird-Valentin-Stocker-ein-Schwabe/story/31424551 Interesting content from this Swiss news source, Basler, stating that on Bobic's trip to Basel he met with Valentin Stocker and leaders of the club to declare a clear intention to commit on signing the player. VfB has presented an initial offer to Stocker and more will follow this week with the club. Stocker hopes to decide on his future before the World Cup begins. Signs are favorable towards this transfer, and Stuttgart remain front runners ahead of other interested teams. Reports also that VfB are willing and able to raise the necessary funds to put together a deal that all parties can agree on.
Whats the plan with Timo Werner for next season? Will he have more playing time? Will Prince-Osei Owusu featured in professional team?
Honestly, I have no clue about how much time either one will get, but Timo has seen first-team minutes (and scored 4 goals) as a sub this season. Also, he signed a 4-year contract extension this year, so his contract will run through the 2018 season. It looks to me like they think pretty highly of him. Prince-Osei Owusu will probably be on one of the youth teams (possibly VfB II?), since he is only 17. I haven't seen anything to indicate he might be promoted to the senior team this year, but I could be wrong. If anyone has heard anything differently, please post it here!
http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...el_veh-hat-medojevic-und-zuber-im-visier.html Veh has Medojevic and Zuber in his sights. Medojevic, defensive midfielder from Wolfsburg. Veh reportedly looking at another specialist for that position who can play beside Carlos Gruezo. Zuber, Swiss winger who played for CSKA Moscow is an alternative for the left wing. He's a fast, agile player with good footwork and dribbling skills and technique on distance shooting.
Can anyone tell me what you guys want with this scrub??? Stuttgart: Vertrag bis 2018 Hlousek unterschreibt beim VfB http://www.kicker.de/news/fussball/...9/artikel_hlousek-unterschreibt-beim-vfb.html
VfB signs Adam Hloušek from Nürnberg. I'm not impressed that we're scavenging from a relegated club, but it's a logical pick-up. The article says midfielder, but he's primarily a left winger. So, here we have our direct replacement for Traoré, on the cheap, of course. He's 25 and established in the Bundesliga. That works for me, if we don't do that at every position. http://www.stuttgarter-zeitung.de/i...art.68366f7e-ee50-4cd2-bfe7-0810a92d4bc7.html
Except he's a scrub. This guy seriously sucks. Yeah, he's "established" in the Bundesliga. He's "established" he's terrible. I really don't know WTF VfB is thinking here.
We'll we lost Boka, too. A more optimistic fan might hope that he will backup the big-name winger we intend to sign. More likely, we will sign two players for €1 million and hope one works out. Besides, defense was what let us down last season. Saving money at left wing wouldn't be bad if they spend it somewhere else. Let's see how Hloušek does on a better team... marginally better, anyway.
FCN was a better team than his last one. FCK. Didn't help. But I see your other points. Thanks for those!
From Kicker: Apparently, FCN and USA right back Timothy Chandler, has agreed to return to his hometown club, Eintracht Frankfurt. A set relegation clause in his contract allows him to move for about one million Euros. Timothy Chandler kehrt nach vier Jahren zu Eintracht Frankfurt zurück. Wie die Hessen soeben vermeldeten, unterschrieb der 24-Jährige heute einen Dreijahresvertrag bis Sommer 2017. Der gebürtige Frankfurter hatte seit dem 11. Lebensjahr alle Jugendmannschaften der Eintracht durchlaufen, ehe er 2010 zum 1. FC Nürnberg wechselte. Für den Club absolvierte er 95 Bundesliga-Spiele (vier Tore). Chandler, der mit den USA an der WM in Brasilien teilnimmt, wechselt per Ausstiegsklausel für rund eine Million Euro.
I don't think we've missed out on anything special with Chandler. He's strong and fast, but makes plenty of mistakes any time I watch him. That said, I think he would have been OK at such a cheap price, which, I'm sure, is why we were looking.
And now we've signed Daniel Ginczek from Nürnberg. Even if he weren't coming off a knee injury, I would not see this as a good signing.
Signing an injured player from a relegated team? Exactly. Why does Bobic always buy from the $1.00 bin? I am obviously under the mistaken impression that VfB is actually a decent size club, with damn-good attendance, and SHOULD have a decent budget to work with. Stuttgart spends like they're located in Schonach im Schwarzwald!
At least he won't miss any training time. He's scheduled to be ready by the end of the month. I wouldn't put too much importance into these signings. I imagine we needed to grab the Nürnberg cast-offs before someone else did. Anyway, he should be better than Cacau has been lately. Maybe we have to wait 'til after the WC to sign some starters.
Gomez already had like 50 goals in the Bundesliga by the time he was Ginzcek's age. It is potentially a decent move for the investment, assuming his knee is good to go, but I don't see a future star in him, though I'd obviously like to be proven wrong.
My skepticism is not really particular to Ginczek; I am just tiring of of these sorts of signings. I want to know where the money is going. Yes, stadium renovations were expensive, but with a big stadium that is always filled, decent commercial partnerships with big companies, and selling homegrown players for big money, it would be nice to see a bit more ambition in transfer policy. Not looking for huge names, but just a couple established guys might be out there for 3 - 5 million € who could play now alongside all these kids with potential we keep signing for around 1 million €. Is that really beyond us? I don't see why it has to be.