He was once seen as the talent who could follow in the footsteps of club icon Bastian Schweinsteiger and as the next real Munich kid who could make the leap to becoming a seasoned professional at FC Bayern – expectations that Adrian Fein was unfortunately unable to fulfill.
On Monday, third division football team SC Verl announced that they had signed former U21 national player and former FC Bayern hopeful Adrian Fein for the rest of the season. The midfielder has been under contract with Dutch first division club Excelsior Rotterdam since the summer of 2022, but was not even used in the 2023/24 season. The free transfer to the lowest German professional class should now ensure that the 24-year-old is back on the pitch more often.
“The opportunity to sign Adrian arose at short notice and we immediately started discussions. Adrian has played at a high level in various leagues in his career so far and has proven that he is a player with exceptional skills and a high level of game intelligence,” explained Sebastian Lange, the sporting director of the Verl sports club, explained on the club’s homepage how the deal came about.
Ex-FC Bayern talent shares suffering with Mario Götze
However, Lange also points out the point that has stood in the way of a more successful career so far: “Unfortunately, his metabolic disease has slowed him down a lot recently. But it is now completely under control, which is of course an important aspect. The conversations with him were very constructive . Adrian accommodated us in many ways, which underlines his character and his great motivation for the new challenge at our club. We are convinced that with the necessary patience both sides will benefit and celebrate sporting success.”
Incidentally, Fein has metabolic problems in common with Mario Götze, whose successful career was once brutally slowed down by the same illness.
For Fein, Verl is already the seventh stop outside Munich. He was once a regular at Hamburger SV, made his debut in the Bundesliga for SpVgg Greuther Fürth, and also has stints with Jahn Regensburg, PSV Eindhoven, Dynamo Dresden and most recently Excelsior.