“An important investment”
Why the 1. FC Köln put so much money into new players
07.09.2025 – 3:12 p.m.Reading time: 3 min.
The 1. FC Köln has transferred 30 players in this transfer summer. A huge upheaval that the Technical Director of the Boils now explained.
The 1. FC Köln has recovered its squad. Almost half of the FC professionals with which FC had made the climb in the 2nd Bundesliga is still there. A total of 13 new additions face 17 departures this summer. Why was such a radical incision necessary?
For Lukas Berg, since this summer as a technical director alongside sports director Thomas Kessler in the sporting management, the upheaval was not surprising. The reasons: The FC was descended in 2024 with practically the same squad, with which the climb then managed; However, the billy goats could not take a fresh blood due to the transfer lock.
Therefore, the 30 transfers made the transfer summer “from a very busy, but also necessary. “For this we had to stabilize and consolidate all the parts of the team, gain quality without installing certain positions in perspective.”
FC was recently forced to do various loan shops to park their own or just only obliged talents at other clubs and give them game practice there. Mountain and Kessler continued this again this summer. But as soon as these players, especially Elias Bakatukanda and Jaka Cuber Potocnik, are back, they should get their permanent place in the professional squad. But these places must also be available.
However, the focus was on raising the squad quality in the top immediately. Experienced Bundesliga players such as Marius Bülter and Jakub Kaminski, but also top talents such as 21-year-old Rav van den Berg, for whom the hooked goats made the third-tax deal of club history possible. “With the sums that were moved this summer, this transfer is almost negligible,” said Berg with a smile, but then explained: “Of course, the transfer amount is an important investment for us that we have not only made as a bet, but because the transfer is at most important for us.”
Van den Berg (came for eight million euros plus bonuses from England), as well as Isak Johannesson (came from Düsseldorf for five million euros), instead aid, but with the perspective that significantly higher offers for the two young players could soon flutter into the house. This also applies to Said El Mala, whom you have already signed last summer and can now put it in the shop window with his first Bundesliga goal as a U21 national player with his first Bundesliga goal.