Last game in May
©IMAGO
SC Paderborn 07 is further strengthening itself on the transfer market in the fight for promotion to the Bundesliga and has signed Manuel Riemann from VfL Bochum. The 36-year-old goalkeeper brings the experience of 98 Bundesliga and 236 second division games with him to East Westphalia. According to reports, the veteran signed a contract until the end of the season – that’s how long his working paper at VfL would have lasted – with the option of a further season.
“Manuel is another important piece of the puzzle for our ambitions in the second half of the season. He is a very experienced goalkeeper and has all the attributes that are important to us in this position. This includes footballing quality, control of the penalty area and direct goal defense. With his qualities, he will immediately increase our quality in this central position,” emphasized sports director Benjamin Weber.
Riemann is the desired reinforcement after Paderborn coach Lukas Kwasniok sharply criticized his keepers Pelle Boevink and Markus Schubert at the press conference after the game against Karlsruher SC on matchday 15. “The goalkeepers alone cost us six to eight points this year. And not with can-do actions, but with brutal misfires. Of course we have a problem there. Mistakes happen, but if you make these mistakes with such frequency, it’s simply a lack of quality,” Kwasniok said at the time.
Riemann last stood between the posts in the Bundesliga in May, before VfL released him shortly before the end of the season with the relegation game against Fortuna Düsseldorf while continuing to pay his salary and justified this measure with “irreconcilable different opinions on team content issues”. The goalkeeper is said to have repeatedly clashed with teammates. Riemann defended himself against this with legal means and was allowed to train with the professionals again from mid-November. However, as number three behind Patrick Drewes and Timo Horn, he no longer had a chance of playing.
Riemann moved from SV Sandhausen to Castroper Straße in 2015 and played 290 times for the Revierklub. In 2021, the keeper was promoted to the Bundesliga with Bochum and managed to stay in the league three times. Now, after almost ten years in Bochum, he is starting a new chapter.