Before Soldo obligation
1. FC Köln also asked Dan-Axel Zagadou (23), who was without a club at the time, after central defender Julian Chabot (24) was injured. The confirmed sports director Christian Keller in an interview with the “goat blog“. “The player was not in our price range. When we spoke to the player’s agent almost three weeks ago, we weren’t interesting as a club. So the talks ended quickly. No matter how good a player is, we only want him if he’s dying to play for us.”
The former Dortmund player, who was on the market on a free transfer after his contract with BVB expired, later decided to join VfB Stuttgart. Among the currently unsigned players who can be signed in the Bundesliga even after the transfer window closes in early September, Zagadou was one of the most valuable before the move. He was also the only unemployed player in the world with a market value of more than 2 million to be under the age of 25. Dortmund had taken the former U21 national player from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer in 2017 – in 2020 he had his highest market value of 35 million euros. This has been falling continuously since then and is at EUR 5 million after the most recent interim update.
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Shortly before the end of the transfer window, the “Effzeh” chose Nikola Soldo (21), who was signed for 500,000 euros by the Croatian first division club NK Lokomotiva. So far, the defender has made one appearance each in the Bundesliga and the Conference League. Keller on the decision in favor of Soldo: “We knew that we would have to make up for the short term due to the injuries that occurred in the Stuttgart game. At this late point in time, the market was simply overpriced for the quality that was there. We could have hired a mercenary who probably wouldn’t have even helped us in terms of sport, but would have made the bank account easier. We didn’t want that.”
The son of ex-Bundesliga professional Zvonimir Soldo is “a talented player who, like all other new players, still has potential for development, including in the athletic area. Nikola is very open and has a high willingness to accept learning impulses”. Therefore, the 43-year-old is convinced “that he will improve significantly with us. But even if his development does not result in a constant Bundesliga level, we have made no mistake in the overall assessment from a sporting and financial perspective”.
1. FC Kölns Keller: “Not able to get finished quality”
Most recently, managing director Philipp Türoff described the association as a “financial restructuring case”. Keller also confirmed that the Domstadters are currently “not in a position to get finished quality that guarantees us a consistently high level in the Bundesliga”. Rather, the focus is on recruiting viable professionals. “We just have to be convinced that we can make the player better if we train with him systematically, especially individually. That’s where the actual music plays, it lies in the invisible training, the individual training in the preparation and follow-up of the team training. For each player there is therefore an action plan to work specifically on the respective development areas, and a time forecast.
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1. FC Köln spent EUR 6.45 million on fresh staff in the summer, including attackers Sargis Adamyan (29) and Steffen Tigges (24) in addition to Soldo. Keller gave all newcomers a good interim report. “For some, the development is a bit faster, for some others it works a bit slower. But all of them are developing positively so far.”
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