Regular player in the House of Commons
©IMAGO
At relegation-threatened Bundesliga club 1. FC Köln, squad planning for the coming season is in full swing. There is a need for action, especially in central defense, where five contracts including loan players end in the summer. According to “Sky”, Stefano Russo from Arminia Bielefeld is very popular with the cathedral townspeople.
Russo came to Bielefeld from Viktoria Cologne in the summer of 2024 for 125,000 euros and has been a regular employee ever since. During promotion to the 2nd Bundesliga and the move to the DFB Cup final in 2025 – where Russo played over 90 minutes – coach Mitch Kniat was able to rely reliably on the defender. Since the move, he has increased his market value from 275,000 to 1 million euros. In the current season, the 25-year-old has appeared in 20 second division games, scoring one goal and one assist.
The contracts of the long-term injured Luca Kilian and Timo Hübers as well as Dominique Heintz in Cologne will end in the summer. In addition, loan players Cenk Özkacar (Valencia FC) and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey (Man City) will also return to their clubs unless FC activates the purchase options. For Özkacar this is 2 million euros, for Simpson-Pusey the amount is not known. If all five leave the club, the club would only be left with two central defenders, Rav van den Berg and Joël Schmied from the current squad.
In the final spurt of the season, René Wagner is supposed to save the season goals that were in danger under the dismissed Lukas Kwasniok. FC has been without a win in the Bundesliga for seven games and is two points ahead of FC St. Pauli, who are in relegation place (to the table). After the international break we travel to Eintracht Frankfurt.
