Looking for a Skhiri replacement
“Now we can become active on the transfer market as part of our limited opportunities due to economic consolidation,” commented managing director Christian Keller from 1. FC Köln on the decision of the International Sports Court to suspend the transfer ban in the dispute with NK Olimpija Ljubljana for the time being. Now the signing of Leart Paqarada (28; arrives free of charge from St. Pauli) for the summer, which was made at the beginning of January, is to be followed by further reinforcements – in interviews with the “Picture“-Newspaper as well as the “goat blog“Keller spoke about the transfer plans of the Domstädter.
“We don’t just want to bring in development players in the summer. There could also be players that one or the other knows without having to google them first. Players where people might say: It’s interesting that he’s coming to FC,” said the 44-year-old. The biggest task will be to replace the departure of the most valuable professional in the squad as best as possible: Ellyes Skhiri (28). The Tunisia international, with a market value of 13 million euros, is leaving Cologne after four years on a free transfer because his contract is expiring. Jonas Hector (33; retired) as well as Timo Horn (30) and Sebastian Andersson (31) will definitely leave FC.
Keller about the coveted Hollerbach: “Interesting from a sporting point of view”, but everything is open
“We’ll try to get a player on the six that we think can ideally play at a good level in the Bundesliga straight away. We’re working on that. For a stable collective, however, we need at best players in the axis who have as few swings in performance as possible,” said Keller. In the TM rumor mill, the names Florian Grillitsch (27; contract with Ajax expires), Max Christiansen (26; Fürth) and Luca Kerber (21; Saarbrücken) are associated with FC. Keller emphasized, however, that Dejan Ljubicic (25) “has to take on more responsibility” – whether in the “six” or another position.
In addition, FC will “certainly sign another player who can ideally play as a ten and as a hanging striker,” emphasized Keller. When asked about the reported interest in top striker Benedict Hollerbach from second division promoted SV Wehen Wiesbaden, he said: “He’s a player that we’re looking at. However, the rise has changed something significantly because the player has a valid contract as a result. He is interesting for us in terms of sport. But that doesn’t mean we’ll sign him.”
Originally, Hollerbach’s contract would have expired after this season, but this was automatically extended for another year due to promotion. The “Bild” had reported that the 22-year-old would be available for 300,000 euros. However, according to the “FAZ”, the SVWW already has several offers well over one million euros. According to reports, Bielefeld’s Masaya Okugawa (27) and Braunschweig’s Immanuel Pherai (22) are also a topic at FC.
1. FC Köln: goalkeeper quartet should be completed – Adamyan “in debt”
According to Keller, in addition to a replacement for Skhiri, FC need a goalkeeper “who completes our quartet”. Talent Jonas Urbig (19) is to be loaned out again after being loaned to Jahn Regensburg in order to gain more match practice. Tim Lemperle (21) also has to “start playing now,” emphasized Keller: “It’s highly unlikely that he will at FC, so we talked about a loan last winter and we’ll see that we can do it now.”
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The “Bild” says that Sargis Adamyan (30) could also leave the club on loan. Keller said: “We are assuming that Sargis will return here in a different condition at the start of training and then present himself differently. We made it clear to Sargis that he could help us if he delivered. (…) He knows that he can do a lot more and that he is now obligated to deliver.” Another candidate for a departure is Nikola Soldo (22). “Nikola is our fourth central defender at the moment and has the chance to play his way forward again. But I don’t rule out that it will be someone else,” said Keller.
“Possibly” something could also happen on the right-back, as it is unclear what will happen next for Kingsley Schindler (29; contract expires). He had “a contract offer. It remains to be seen whether he will accept it.” According to “Bild”, Schindler is hesitating because the extension would involve a salary reduction. According to Transfermarkt information, both sides are still in very good talks and Cologne is still Schindler’s first point of contact.
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