1. FC Köln: Is a player without a club coming? That’s what Steffen Baumgart says

TM community wants Martel replacement

One point and just four goals from five games is 1. FC Köln’s sobering record in the new Bundesliga season. The financially struggling “Effzeh”, who was unable to make any big jumps on the transfer market in the summer, is struggling with injury concerns: Noah Katterbach (22), Eric Martel (21), Mathias Olesen (22), Jan Thielmann (21 ), Mark Uth (32) and Florian Dietz (25) are not available. Coach Steffen Baumgart left it open whether the Cologne team might add another player without a club.

“Of course we know who doesn’t have a contract. The question is always: Are they helping you at the moment or are they not helping? This is all speculative,” Baumgart said (quoted via “Goat blog“). The Cologne team will also keep in mind the pending decision of the International Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) on the one-year transfer ban imposed by the world association FIFA. “Effzeh” was sentenced to this at the end of March for inciting a breach of contract. If CAS confirms the ban, Cologne would no longer be able to make any signings in the winter transfer window.

“We already deal with situations like this. We then also deal with such players – but not specifically. Just because we know who is on the market doesn’t mean we’re going to get someone or say: It has to be him,” Baumgart remained reserved, citing names like Eden Hazard (32), David de Gea (32), Jesse Lingard (30), Jean-Philippe Gbamin (28) or Tanguy Coulibaly (22) are apparently familiar.

“There are a lot of good footballers among the guys who are currently on the market,” continued Baumgart, but he questioned: “Are they in a position to help us relatively quickly? Or are they ready at the same time as our injured players? There are a lot of question marks, trains of thought and ideas.” It is also “always very difficult to take someone out of vacation or unemployment and say: ‘Now you are the right one’. Maybe that’s just me, I’m not the right person for that.”

TM Community: 1. FC Köln should bring in a Martel replacement – ​​Baumgart is irritated

In the TM community, FC fans especially want a replacement for Martel, who will be out for weeks after an Achilles tendon injury. “I find the suggestion of signing a non-contract player for defensive midfield very interesting and would support it. If you take a closer look at Gbamin, for example, you can see that the right-back position is one of his secondary positions,” writes user “WolfOver”. “Effzehdude” adds: “Your mind games are clear and justified. However, I don’t think we will sign a player without a contract. I would definitely be a supporter, as the six position is already blowing up in our faces. However, we have sufficient numbers in the position, although I have doubts about the quality of some players.”

I find the suggestion of signing an out-of-contract player for defensive midfield very interesting and would support it.
If you take a closer look at Gbamin, for example, you’ll see that the right-back position is one of his secondary positions.
So if you get him signed, you could initially line him up in the 6th position and then, when the injury list clears up again, you could alternatively move Gbamin to the right-back position to replace Carstensen in…

TM user “KSKChris” also cannot understand Baumgart’s comments: “The level of irritation is slowly increasing for me too. Not because we haven’t signed a player without a contract yet and probably won’t again, but because of Baumgart’s statements about the reasons for this. For me, what Baumgart cites as justification is simply the completely wrong question. It would be more correct to ask yourself whether the squad is really set up in every position to absorb longer absences. You can’t seriously speculate that Martel will a) be fit again soon and b) stay fit for the rest of the season. That’s not the standard we can have when it comes to sensible squad planning?!”

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