Second division soccer team Hannover 96 has managed a spectacular return campaign: Marcel Halstenberg’s move from DFB Cup winner RB Leipzig to Lower Saxony is perfect. The 31-year-old has signed a two-year contract with his former youth club until 2025.
The transfer fee for the defensive man is said to be around 700,000 euros. The defender said goodbye to Leipzig in the morning and was in Hanover in the afternoon to complete the transfer. Halstenberg should help the Lower Saxony with his great experience to be able to attack the upper places in the second division.
“For me, the famous phrase is actually true: I really slept in 96 sheets when I was a little boy.”
— Marcel Halstenberg
The veteran has already spent twelve years with the “Reds” in his youth, for Hannover’s second representation he had played 19 games in the Regionalliga Nord. He makes his comeback in the 96 shirt in Saturday’s friendly against Villarreal.
Nine international matches for the DFB-Elf
In 2011 Halstenberg moved to the west regional league club Borussia Dortmund II, with whom he rose to the third division. In 2013 he was transferred to the second division club FC St. Pauli. The defender appeared in 54 second division games (six goals) for the Kiezkicker before joining RB Leipzig.
He was promoted to the Bundesliga with the Saxons, played in the Champions League and became a national player: in 2017 he made his debut in the DFB jersey, and he played his last international match to date at the 2021 European Championship in a 4-2 win against Portugal.
Halstenberg wants more family time
It is mainly family reasons that are driving the left-back back to his former club. “I spent almost my entire youth at Hannover 96 and my family and friends are firmly rooted here. I always had a great desire to play for my home club again in my career,” said the 31-year-old.
His father Andreas died in 2020, his mother Petra a few months later. In an interview with the “Mitteldeutsche Zeitung” last year, Halstenberg indicated that he wanted to give his daughter more time with the family.
His wife Franziska also comes from the area. “I am grateful that we have my big brother, with whom I have a very close relationship, and my parents-in-law, who I have known for 18 years and who are now like my own parents, by our side,” Halstenberg once said . With his return to 96, the family idyll is finally perfect.
This topic in the program:
Hello Lower Saxony | 07/19/2023 | 19:30 o’clock
