The first football half of the 2023/24 season is history. We use the time between the years to garnish what happened with our own personal two cents. This time the sport.de editorial team is looking at the question: which transfer from the German Bundesliga club went wrong the most?
Marc Affeldt: The choice is really damn difficult, because with its questionable and obviously futile attempts to compensate for the departure of Jude Bellingham in the summer of 2023, Borussia Dortmund has simply missed the mark more than once. The 30 million euros that BVB was given for Felix Nmecha should still cause laughter in Wolfsburg. The fact that FC Bayern let Marcel Sabitzer move to the strongest rival of the last decade (19 million euros was “thanks”) should have given Watzke and Co. something to think about anyway.
The fact that the duo has already missed numerous games due to injury is of course unfortunate, but it fits the picture perfectly.
Gerrit Kleiböhmer: Big name, big impact? Unfortunately, that didn’t work for 1. FC Union Berlin when they sensationally lured 36-year-old European champion Leonardo Bonucci to Köpenick in the summer. The shockingly catastrophic result: If the Italians have been on the pitch in the Bundesliga, they have only suffered defeats so far. The fact that Bonucci has only played one game under new coach Nenad Bjelica is only a logical consequence.
Chris Rohdenburg: I have two! The non-transfer of Youssoufa Moukoko. You just want to shout to the former BVB prodigy: Dare, go somewhere where you can and are finally allowed to play! And Dawid Kownacki from Werder Bremen. Sure, first of all Naby Keita is the obvious main flop. But I didn’t expect Kownacki, who was the fourth-best scorer in the 2nd Bundesliga last season (14 goals, nine assists) to go so completely under the radar.
Heiko Lütkehus: Something like that from Naby Keita! Yes, he was free of charge, but with his salary and the certainly generous hand money he devoured resources that the cash-strapped Werder Bremen could – or even should – have used much more sustainably. The hype surrounding the transfer was understandable, but from today’s perspective it was greatly exaggerated. Measured against expectations, Keita is the biggest SVW flop since Carlos Alberto.
Jannik Kube: A loan deal should actually help all three parties. However, the complete opposite happened with Josip Stanisic’s temporary move to Bayer Leverkusen. The right-back is only a substitute for the Rhinelanders. If they had stayed at FC Bayern, they would have had significantly more playing time, as the record champions were struggling with personnel problems in the back team during the first half of the season.
Emmanuel Schneider: Close head-to-head race between Leonardo Bonucci (Union Berlin) and Naby Keita (Werder Bremen). Both came to the Bundesliga with a lot of praise and international flair (European champions! Liverpool!), both disappointed. Keita (unfortunately) has more injuries/illnesses than appearances and was therefore unable to help Werder Bremen at all. Bonucci has probably been thinking for months: What am I doing here in cold Berlin? Only six Union starting eleven appearances for the veteran speak volumes. The porous FCU defense should make an Italian defensive legend sweat more than a Hawaiian pizza…