2024-08-24 12:13:10
There is a risk of a game being abandoned on the first match day. There could also be a lot of trouble for other clubs. The 18 problem areas of the 18 Bundesliga teams.
The new Bundesliga season begins on Friday evening with a duel between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Bayer Leverkusen (from 8:30 p.m. in the live ticker on t-online). However, things have hardly been particularly quiet for either club in the days and weeks before.
The situation is similar for many other Bundesliga clubs. All 18 still have their work in progress or unanswered questions. Some of them are bigger, some smaller. Nevertheless, they all carry a certain risk.
Leverkusen was able to keep coach Xabi Alonso and almost the entire starting eleven. The Supercup is the first title of the new season. The difference to the historic double season, however, is that this time the champions are the ones being hunted. The Werkself can no longer get out of the slipstream, the opponents have adapted to their style of play.
In addition, the transfer discussion surrounding national player Jonathan Tah is causing unrest in the team. It is still unclear whether the defensive leader will stay or not. If he leaves, Bayer would have to be active on the transfer market again after the start of the season. Also because Tah’s colleague Odilon Kossounou is about to leave for England.
Serhou Guirassy gone, Hiroki Itō gone and captain Waldemar Anton gone – as in the previous season, VfB has to compensate for the departure of three regular players. But demands have grown in Swabia. Stuttgart are going into the new season as runners-up and have spent a lot of money on the transfer market.
With Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirović, VfB made two record transfers, spending a total of over 60 million euros – and is therefore taking a financial risk. And the triple burden of Champions League, DFB Cup and league could also become a problem for coach Sebastian Hoeneß’s young team and its intensive style of play.
The planned changes turned out to be somewhat smaller in the end. After just four new signings (Irankunda, Palhinha, Olise, Itō) it’s already over. “The squad is set,” sporting director Max Eberl recently clarified. But it was actually supposed to look a little different. Neither Xavi Simons nor Désiré Doué or Jonathan Tah came. And candidates for sale like Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry or Kingsley Coman are still there.
The bloated salary structure continues to cause problems, especially with the expiring contracts of players such as Alphonso Davies, Joshua Kimmich and Leroy Sané. Coach Vincent Kompany has to make some unpleasant decisions that could cause unrest. Can he keep the many egos in the squad under control?
RB has been a sure candidate for the top 4 for years, but it has never been good enough to reach the top. This is also because key players have repeatedly left the club. This time they lost European champion Dani Olmo to FC Barcelona. At least Xavi Simons is playing for the Saxons for another year, and Nusa is a promising talent who immediately scored in the cup.
But will that be enough to challenge for the title? Overall, Leipzig still lacks depth in the squad, and they only traveled to the cup match with 16 players – partly due to injuries. That could be problematic given the Champions League load.
New coach, the loss of identification figures (Reus, Hummels, Füllkrug) and many new ones (Beier, Groß, Anton, Guirassy, Couto). Add to that the changed structure in the management (Ricken promotion, Mislintat return). BVB is going into the season with a completely new face at all levels.
Such a major upheaval offers opportunities, but also entails risks. Because everything has to find its feet first, while the Champions League finalists’ expectations have by no means dropped. Quite the opposite. With the top-class reinforcements, the team should finally be able to win the championship title again. A lot of pressure for the young coach Nuri Şahin in his first head coaching position at a top European club.
“Strikers, we need strikers!” The desperate call of Frankfurt fans for a successor to Randal Kolo Muani, who was sold last summer just before the transfer deadline, was only heard in the winter. But with Hugo Ekitiké and Igor Matanović, who has returned from Karlsruhe, the SGE now seems to be much better positioned in attack to solve the problem of the goal drought from the previous season.