Includes purchase option
©IMAGO
The first version of this article appeared at 8:24 a.m. and was updated following the clubs’ final announcement.
In the summer of 2023, VfL Wolfsburg paid 5 million euros for Cédric Zesiger. A year and a half later, the Swiss defender was loaned out within the Bundesliga. What the “Blick” first reported on Tuesday was confirmed by the clubs this morning: the defender is moving to FC Augsburg for the rest of the season. A purchase option for an undisclosed amount is also part of the deal.
“Cédric is a strong defensive player who opens up additional opportunities for our defense with his robustness and intensive style of play. He knows the Bundesliga and can help our team immediately. With the signing of Cédric we can also quickly close the bottleneck in defense that arose at short notice. We are very much looking forward to working together and wish him a good start and much success with FCA,” said FCA sporting director Marinko Jurendic about the transfer.
The four-time national player shuttled between the starting eleven and the bench in his first season in Wolfsburg, but in the current one he is at a disadvantage compared to his central defender colleagues Konstantinos Koulierakis and Denis Vavro, who have a higher market value. Koulierakis is valued at 15 million euros and Vavro at 5 million euros, Zesiger is valued at 4 million euros after a devaluation in the last Bundesliga update. The 26-year-old has played eight games with 611 minutes, and he was not used eleven times.
“I’m pleased that the move to Augsburg worked out. I want to use my skills to help the team and be successful in the second half of the season. FCA is an established Bundesliga club and I am convinced that I am in exactly the right place,” said Zesiger, who is FCA’s first signing this winter. There are already six central defenders in the squad, but Keven Schlotterbeck is injured and Reece Oxford was last on the field in November 2022. In addition, the Fuggerstadt team has one of the weakest defenses in the league with 33 goals conceded. Only Holstein Kiel and VfL Bochum in relegation places 17 and 18 conceded more. Before the 17th matchday, the FCA is in 13th place, three points ahead of the relegation zone.