Niclas Füllkrug moves to Serie A and becomes the thirteenth German player in Italy’s top football league. While Robin Gosens and Aurel Bisseck have World Cup ambitions there, others are fighting for every minute of the game in the relegation battle. Sportschau.de gives an overview of the first half of the season’s performances of Germany’s Italian legionnaires.
Robin Gosens: A first half of the season to forget
Probably the best-known German player in the top Italian league is Robin Gosens, left wing player. The 24-time German national player seemed to have (re-)found happiness at AC Florence after a less than successful time in Berlin and was placed at “La Viola” in the previous season.
However, the current season is anything but satisfactory – neither for Florence nor for Gosens. The 31-year-old was always in the starting line-up on the first nine matchdays, but the Fiorentines did not win a single one of these games. Then Gosens injured his thigh and was unable to intervene for a long time. On December 21st, the bottom team finally won their first game, and on the 27th Gosens celebrated his comeback as a joker – he will still want to quickly forget the catastrophic first series.
Back on the pitch: Robin Gosens from AC Fiorentina
Yann Bisseck: End of the year with a positive trend
Yann Bisseck fought for a regular place in Inter Milan’s outstanding squad in the last second half of the season. The reward: his international debut in the Nations League against Italy in March 2025. Bisseck has been considered one of the greatest hopes in the DFB central defense since then. But his journey in the fast lane did not continue as hoped.
In the first half of the current season, Bisseck had to watch more and more: the 25-year-old was out of action ten times in the league without being struck or injured. The result was rumors of a change, and a number of Bundesliga clubs such as Leipzig and Frankfurt were linked to Bisseck. But he weighed it down, announced that he wanted to assert himself at Inter – and recently collected plus points in two starting eleven appearances in a row. He even scored the winning goal against Genoa in a 2-1 away win. Bisseck’s World Cup dream is not yet over.
Nicolas Kühn: Celtics Game decider is a stranger in Como
Nicolas Kühn played for all DFB junior national teams. After his rise stalled, Kühn exploded in 2025 Celtic Glasgow. In 1907, Como finally brought the winger to Italy for a whopping 19 million euros. Kühn plays there regularly, but usually comes off the bench in the sixth-place team.
Kühn has played twelve games for his new employer and has not yet managed to score a point. Recently, however, coach Cesc Fàbregas regularly gave him only ten-minute appearances. The move to Serie A has not been good for Kühn’s career so far. Tent rumors about a DFB comeback have been put to rest for the time being.
Marc-Oliver Kempf: Lost regular place in a strong team
Kühn’s teammate Marc-Oliver Kempf joined the then promoted Como in the summer of 2024 and played his way into the team. The central defender also started this season as a regular player, but Kempf has now lost his place: the former U21 national player was only allowed to start once in the last eight league games. It will be exciting to see what happens next for Kempf given Como’s positive development.
Suat Serdar: Captain in the relegation battle
Suat Serdar also has experience in the DFB jersey; after numerous appearances with the juniors, the central midfielder also appeared four times for the senior national team. The now 28-year-old wasn’t able to fully meet the at times very high expectations of his career, but seems to have found his footballing happiness in Serie A.
Serdar has been playing for Hellas Verona since summer 2023. In north-eastern Italy, the former Mainz, Schalke and Herthan player has demonstrated leadership qualities, has been captain since the current season and scored two goals. Knee problems slowed Serdar down at the end of the year, but he is now fit again – and that is important for Verona: Hellas, 18th, is in the middle of a relegation battle.
Captain Suat Serdar celebrates his goal in the 1-1 draw against Udinese
Armel Bella-Kotchap: Finally playing football again
In the winter of 2022, Armel Bella-Kotchap was surprisingly part of Hansi Flick’s Germany World Cup squad after he started at VfL Bochum. The Southampton FC struck the up-and-coming central defender, but Bella-Kotchap hardly got a chance in England. After an unsuccessful loan PSV Eindhoven The two-time national player is expected to appear at Verona this season together with team-mate Serdar.
After initial difficulties, Bella-Kotchap is allowed to do that too; the 1.90 meter man was recently placed by coach Paolo Zanetti. After a long time, the 24-year-old finally seems to be able to gain regular match practice again and give his career new impetus.
Idrissa Touré: regular player in Pisa
The name “Idrissa Touré” may not be familiar to many German football fans. The former German U19 international moved to Juventus Turin in 2018 and was awarded several times by the “Old Lady” before landing in the Italian second division at Pisa in 2021. Touré is now playing his fourth season as a regular at the Tuscan club, which was promoted to Serie A in the summer.
For the extremely muscular Touré it is now a relegation battle. Pisa is still in 19th place behind Verona. The 27-year-old winger has contributed one goal and one assist in 14 appearances so far.
Pisa’s Idrissa Touré in a celebrating pose
Top talents Palma and Odogu are gaining match practice
Four other Germans play in Serie A, but they (still) get little match practice. Jamil Siebert moved from Fortuna Düsseldorf to Lecce at the start of the season, but was only allowed to play in Serie A once. teammate Christian Früchtl Wasn’t even used as a substitute goalkeeper in the league. talent Matteo Palma (17 years old) has already been substituted four times at Udinese, the ex-Wolfsburg player David Odogu (19) recently made his debut at AC Milan.
Switched from the Hertha youth team to Udinese in 2022: Matteo Palma