1. FC Cologne wants to lay the foundation for promotion to the Bundesliga at the training camp in Spain. Several transfers are supposed to help, but they are stalling.
The sun was shining on Saturday morning when 1. FC Köln came onto the training pitch for the first time at the Estepona Football Center. The billy goats have a large and a small lawn at their disposal, as well as a covered fitness center. On the first day of training, players, coaches and those responsible enjoyed spring-like weather with 17 degrees and sunshine.
Gerhard Struber was correspondingly enthusiastic after the first relaxed session, which was supposed to be the start of a strenuous week. “We have fantastic conditions, the weather is playing along – we’re enjoying it right now,” said the FC coach. “We want to go even deeper into the principles of our style of play and become even better and more controlled in detail.” Several new additions should help with this.
The squad has already been reduced. With Sargis Adamyan, the first striker was awarded to Regensburg. With Florian Dietz, another attacker is to be transferred to SCR Altach in Austria. Central defender Elias Bakatukanda is also expected to be loaned out. Therefore, Dietz and Bakatukanda were no longer taken to Spain, while Meiko Waschenbach was permanently transferred back to the U21 and can also leave the club.
However, only Jusuf Gazibegovic has come so far. The Bosnian completed his first training session in the FC uniform on Saturday. “He brings a lot of content with him, which will help us very quickly,” said Struber, who has known and appreciated the right-back for a long time. In addition to the 24-year-old, there will be a central defender and a striker. But that’s exactly where there are big concerns at FC right now.
Ivan Prtajin was actually intended for the striker center and was supposed to come from Union Berlin on loan for six months. But then the Iron Men threw out their previous coach, Bo Svensson, and brought in Steffen Baumgart, of all people. The ex-FC coach immediately vetoed the decision and wanted to give Prtajin more playing time in the future. Meanwhile, the FC looks unhappy and has to get rid of the new signing that they believed was safe.
And the second, still planned transfer is still a long time coming. The FC is in agreement with Joel Schmied from FC Sion, and has probably been for weeks. But the Swiss club still stands in the way and demands three million euros for the captain. Significantly too much for the billy goats, who would be willing to transfer around two million euros. An agreement, it was said on Saturday in Estepona, is still a long way away.
Not a nice situation for Struber, who knows that a defender and an attacker of a certain quality would not only be good for the squad, but would also noticeably increase the chances of promotion. “We will now try everything to make one or the other possible,” said Struber. “We won’t fall into actionism. The right thing has to be there. We are in discussions with some players and will see what happens in the next few days.”
With Schmied it is a question of money, in the storm it is now a question of alternatives. Will sports director Christian Keller manage to land another attacker? The profile is clear: We are looking for a tall striker who, ideally, has already proven his goalscoring qualities in Germany. FC prefers a loan and would only consider a purchase if the player also has Bundesliga prospects. There are still four weeks left before the transfer market closes for the rest of the season on January 31st.