By Andrew Lord
30 June 2022
This preview will be constantly updated until the 2022/23 season begins.
Schalke 04
After just one season in the second division, Schalke 04 are back in the Bundesliga and the club has been very busy in the transfer market. Dutch left-back Thomas Ouwejan has joined the club from AZ Alkmaar for €2 million, Uruguayan midfielder Rodrigo Zalazar has been signed from Eintracht Frankfurt for €1.5 million, along with striker Sebastian Polter a €1.5 million signing from VfL Bochum, French attacking midfielder Florent Mollet for €500,000 from Montpellier and Tobias Mohr from FC Heidenheim for €1 million.
Schalke has also signed Japanese defender Maya Yoshida, who was available as a free agent after leaving Sampdoria and Swiss right-back Cedric Brunner from Arminia Bielefeld. Swedish forward Jordan Larsson, son of former Celtic and Barcelona striker Henrik Larsson, has also signed for the club.
Czech international Alex Král has joined Schalke on a one-year deal from Spartak Moscow. The defensive midfielder’s contract with Spartak has been suspended until the end of the 2022/23 season due to FIFA’s special transfer rule for foreign players in Russia.
Welsh winger Rabbi Matondo has left the club, joining Glasgow Rangers in a deal which could eventually be worth around €3 million. Matondo joined Schalke 04 from Manchester City in 2019 for €10 million, but he played just 30 Bundesliga games for the club, scoring two goals. He was loaned out on two occasions, to Stoke City and Cercle Brugge. Ozan Kabak has also left Schalke, signing for Hoffenheim in a deal said to be worth between five and seven million euros.
For new trainer Frank Kramer the aim is to stay in the Bundesliga: “As a promoted side, even as Schalke 04, the only goal can be to avoid relegation. The Bundesliga will be a huge challenge for us.” His trainer team will include two Schalke favourites: Michael Büskens and Gerald Asamoah.
The club has devised a bonus model for this season, which rewards the players in three categories. The highest bonus will be paid in the event of a position in the top four, with a lower player payment for a finish in positions five to ten, followed by the bonus for finishing in positions eleven to fifteen. If Schalke finishes in the relegation zone, the players will not receive a bonus.
Schalke recorded three victories out of seven pre-season friendlies. The club beat VfB Hüls 14-0, followed by a 7-0 victory over Blau-Weiß Lohne, a 1-0 win over SC Verl, a 3-1 loss against SV Meppen, a 0-0 draw with Salernitana, a 1-1 draw with Augsburg and a 3-1 defeat to Twente Enschede.
Schalke 04 face Bremer SV from the fifth tier of German football in the first round of the German Cup on 31 July 2022 and play FC Cologne at the RheinEnergieStadion in the first Bundesliga match day on 7 August 2022.
VfB Stuttgart
Stuttgart has signed right-back Josha Vagnoman from Hamburg for a fee of €3.5 million. The club had agreed terms with the Germany U21 international some time ago, but negotiations between the two clubs proved more complicated. It was eventually agreed that Hamburg would receive performance-related bonuses valued at €400,000 and 10% of any future transfer fee.
Other summer signings include Greek centre-back Konstantinos Mavropanos from Arsenal for €3.2 million, Colombian striker Juan José Perea from PAS Ioannina for a fee of €2.4 million and Japanese defender Hiroki Ito from Júbilo Iwata for €400,000.
The club has also been able to persuade attacking midfielder Laurin Ulrich to sign a contract extension. The 17-year-old, who is viewed as one of the biggest prospects at the club, will remain until 2026.
Belgian midfielder Orel Mangala has signed for Nottingham Forest for €13 million, while Spanish right back Pablo Maffeo has left the club, signing for RCD Mallorca for a fee of €3 million and Erik Thommy has joined Major League Soccer club Sporting Kansas City on a free transfer. Attacking midfielder Daniel Didavi has been released by the club.
Stuttgart narrowly avoided the relegation play-offs last season by virtue of an injury time winner in the final game of the season against Cologne. Trainer Pellegrino Matarazzo is hoping his side will learn from last season’s tough battle against relegation: “You grow and mature with every experience.”
The club has been dealt a blow after Nikolas Nartey and Tanguy Coulibaly sustained injuries in training. Both players will be out for three to four weeks and will now miss the start of the season.
The club recorded five victories out of five in pre-season friendlies with a 7-1 win over SV Böblingen, a 3-2 success against FC Zürich, followed by a 3-2 win over FC Zürich, a 2-1 victory over Brentford and a 5-2 win over Valencia.
Stuttgart face Bundesliga 3 club Dynamo Dresden at the Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion in the first round of the German Cup on 29 July 2022 and play RB Leipzig at the Mercedes-Benz Arena in the Bundesliga season opener on 7 August 2022.
Hertha BSC Berlin
Hertha Berlin has signed two players on free transfers: Jonjoe Kenny from English Premier League club Everton and Filip Uremović from Rubin Kazan. Nigerian international Chidera Ejuke has also joined Hertha on a season-long loan from CSKA Moscow. The 24-year-old left-winger had played in Russia since summer 2020 and scored ten goals in 65 games. French winger Wilfried Kanga has joined the club from BSC Young Boys for €4 million.
The Berlin club has also signed Croatian defensive midfielder Ivan Sunjic on a season-long loan from English Championship side Birmingham City. The loan deal also includes an option to buy Sunjic.
Arne Maier has left the club to join Augsburg for a fee of €5 million, centre-back Jordan Torunarigha has joined KAA Gent for €3.5 million, Eduard Löwen has joined St. Louis City SC for €1 million, Anton Kade has signed for FC Basel for €500,000 and Niklas Stark has left the club to join Werder Bremen. Right-back Lukas Klünter has been released and is now a free agent.
Hertha has also lost 16-year-old midfielder Noel Aseko Nkili, who has left the club to sign for Bayern Munich. Aseko Nkili has played 11 times for the Germany U17 side.
Dutch striker Javairô Dilrosun has returned to his homeland, signing for Feyenoord Rotterdam. The 24-year-old joined Hertha Berlin in 2018 on a free transfer from Manchester City and scored six goals in 54 Bundesliga games.
Hertha Berlin has announced that striker Marco Richter will not be available for an indefinite period of time as he requires surgery to remove a tumour from his testicle. The tumour was discovered during a urological examination. The club has requested that Richter’s privacy is respected and further information will be released in due course.
Meanwhile, 35-year-old midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng has announced that he will retire after the 2022/23 season.
New trainer Sandro Schwarz has spoken of his aims for the season ahead: “If our fans recognise a team which embodies the values of Hertha BSC, it will be a successful season.” In an interview with TV channel rbb24, he continued: “We don’t want to say much about objectives, we just want to do our work on the pitch and be diligent.”
Hertha recorded three victories in six pre-season friendlies: a 7-0 victory over TuS Makkabi Berlin, a 1-0 win over SV Babelsberg, a 5-1 victory against Energie Cottbus, a 1-0 defeat against Derby County, lost 3-1 against Nottingham Forest and lost 2-1 against West Bromwich Albion.
Hertha Berlin face Bundesliga 2 side Eintracht Braunschweig in the first round of the German Cup on 31 July 2022 and play Union Berlin in the first match of the new Bundesliga season on 6 August 2022.
Werder Bremen
Bremen has signed Jens Stage from FC Copenhagen for €4 million, Scottish striker Oliver Burke, who arrives from Sheffield United on a free transfer and Niklas Stark on a free from Hertha Berlin.
Bremen has also signed 21-year-old defender Lee Buchanan from Derby County on a free transfer. Clemens Fritz, head of scouting at Bremen, said: “He’s a very talented player who has a lot of experience despite still being young. We think he’s got a serious amount of potential, and he plays with dynamism and real intensity.”
Mitchell Weiser has signed on a permanent basis from Leverkusen on a free transfer. The right-back spent last season on loan at Bremen. The club has also been given a boost after striker Niclas Füllkrug signed a contract extension. The 29-year-old scored 19 goals for Bremen last season as the club won promotion from Bundesliga 2.
Polish centre-back Maik Nawrocki has left the club to return to his homeland to play for Legia Warsaw, while South Korean left-back Kyu-Hyun Park has joined Dynamo Dresden on a season-long loan.
Bremen trainer Ole Werner still wants to add players to the squad: “Of course, you want to put the squad together as soon as possible, particularly as a promoted team. But ultimately it is always important that the decisions on the transfer market are correct and suitable, as opposed to being made quickly.”
Bremen won two out of five pre-season friendlies. The club lost 3-1 to VfB Oldenburg, recorded a 2-1 victory over Karlsruher SC, lost 2-1 against Besiktas Istanbul, drew 3-3 with Twente Enschede and a 6-1 win over FC Groningen.
Bremen face Regional League North-east side Energie Cottbus in the first round of the German Cup on 1 August 2022. In the first game of the new Bundesliga season, Werder Bremen play VfL Wolfsburg at the Volkswagen Arena on 6 August 2022.
Augsburg
Augsburg has signed Arne Maier from Hertha Berlin for €5 million and Maximilian Bauer from Greuther Fürth on a free transfer. The club has also signed Ermedin Demirovic from Freiburg in an exchange deal which sees 28-year-old striker Michael Gregoritsch move in the opposite direction.
The club has released Alfreð Finnbogason and Jan Morávek.
Enrico Maaßen spoke positively as he was unveiled as the new Augsburg coach: “I had some really good chats with the bosses at FCA that impressed me. I’m pleased to get this chance to prove myself and to hopefully build something in the long term here at Augsburg. I’m looking forward to the upcoming sporting challenges and I can hardly wait for our home games at the WWK Arena.”
Augsburg won two out of six pre-season friendlies. The 5-0 victory over TSV Schwaben Augsburg and 5-0 win against VfB Eichstätt were followed by a 1-1 draw with SV Sandhausen, a 1-0 defeat against SK Dynamo Ceske Budejovice, a 1-1 draw with Schalke 04 and a 3-2 defeat against Stade Rennes.
Augsburg face Blau-Weiß Lohne in the first round of the German Cup on 31 July 2022 and host Freiburg in the Bundesliga season opener on 6 August 2022.
© Andrew Lord 2022
German Football 