With Jusuf Gazibegovic, 1. FC Köln presented their first new signing of the winter. Denis Huseinbasic explains why FC fans can be happy.
With his first signing after his one-year transfer ban, he has made a name for himself 1. FC Cologne directly dedicated to his biggest squad construction site: Jusuf Gazibegovic, who is moving from Austrian double winner Sturm Graz to Geißbockheim on January 1, 2025, is supposed to solve the second division team’s right-back problems.
One of his future teammates is already firmly convinced that the 24-year-old can become a decisive factor on the way to promotion. Denis Huseinbasic, himself a regular in Cologne’s central midfield, already knows Gazibegovic from the Bosnia-Herzegovina national team – and raves about the FC addition.
“He is a player who will help us – who has enough qualities at the front and back that we can use,” says Huseinbasic and describes Gazibegovic as a “mentality monster”. The full-back, who can also be used on the left side, “gives his all in every game and every training session” and is also “a cool, sociable guy” off the pitch. That means: “Cologne fans can be happy!”
Huseinbasic personally was not entirely uninvolved in the first FC transfer of the winter – he supported Gazibegovic in an advisory capacity and in the spirit of the “billy goats”. He reveals with a smile: “We get along well, of course there were one or two conversations. I worked on him a bit so that this was the right step for him.” Gazibegovic pestered him. “He asked me how everything is here. How we play, what the coach is like, what the teammates are like. Of course I only spoke positively about FC.”
Cologne head coach Gerhard Struber is anything but an unknown figure for the future FC professional. Before moving to Graz in the summer of 2020, the Salzburg native with Bosnian roots played for FC Liefering. Struber was his coach there in 2018, just as he had been in the youth team at Red Bull Salzburg.
It was not for nothing that Gazibegovic was quoted as follows during his presentation in Cologne: “Many factors played a role in my decision: the city that lives for the club. The coach, who has known me for a very long time and has looked after me since I was a small child And the challenge: I really want to get promoted to the Bundesliga with FC.”
The latter of course also applies to Huseinbasic, who believes: “The 2nd league in Germany is not a bad step for him.” We hope together that “things will go back up quickly.” The “billy goats” are currently only one point behind the promotion places.
Gazibegovic, who according to Sky has signed a contract until 2028 and only costs just under two million euros thanks to an exit clause, will initially keep his fingers crossed for FC as a spectator in the end of the year. From January onwards he will be able to play alongside Huseinbasic in both the national team and the club.