Despite the clear upward trend over the last week, VfB Stuttgart is plagued by a personnel problem in defense. A former BVB talent is said to have become the focus of the runner-up.
According to a report from the portal “fussballtransfers.com”, this is Marco Rente from the Dutch first division club FC Groningen. Accordingly, VfB Stuttgart is working with the 27-year-old and is monitoring him regularly.
Rente played for BVB’s U23s between 2018 and 2020, then took the step to the Netherlands and made his breakthrough in the professional field at Heracles Almelo. In 2023 he moved to Groningen, where he is a permanent staff member. His contract there runs until 2027 and his market value is estimated at around 800,000 euros. Financially, a possible deal for VfB Stuttgart should be easy to manage.
After the departures of Waldemar Anton (to BVB) and Hiroki Ito (to FC Bayern) last summer, the Swabians are still looking for a regular defensive line-up.
The new additions Jeff Chabot and Anthony Rouault are ahead in the internal competition, but are not yet consistently showing top performances.
VfB Stuttgart is currently in top form
There are also Ameen Al Dakhil and Ramon Hendriks, who also only found their way to Stuttgart for the current season, as well as Dan-Axel Zagadou.
However, the former Dortmund player cannot be fully planned for due to his extreme susceptibility to injury. Zagadou has currently been suffering from lateral ligament problems for months; in 2024/2025 he was only on the pitch for 28 minutes in three competitive games.
Despite the less than ideal situation in the defensive department, VfB is currently in top form. Stuttgart won all three games in 2025, against FC Augsburg (1:0), RB Leipzig (2:1) and SC Freiburg (4:0), and thus moved up to fourth place in the table.