Christophe Daum pulled off the biggest surprise of the early silly season, by quitting Cologne to return to Turkey via Fenerbahce. I would love to hear Jan’s input on this, but my take is that it could be a sucker punch for the Billy Goats as they face the sophomore curse. Daum had a somewhat iconic air at Colgne. He had helped built a solid team that needed some tweaks to reestablish the club as a permanent fixture in the top flight. Will the players, that he helped bring in, stay around for a new manager? They have a lot of talent that could be picked off with young guns Pezonni, Geromel, and Brosinksi. And the news caught favored son Lukas Podolski by surprise, and an already unhappy Podolski is going to make life tough for any new manager. Currently Slomka and Skibbe are being bandied about as possible replacements.
Ze Roberto has left Bayern after they wouldn’t give him a two-year contract. He seems to think he’s going to Manchester City. I seem to think he’s going to the MLS.
Bayern’s attempts to bring in a keeper are hitting a major road block. Manuel Neuer has said no. Being a Schalke man to the bone, that wasn’t a shock. And Bayer 04 may have set too high a price on Rene Adler for the Bavarians.
Demba Ba is making noises about leaving Hoffenheim and seems hell bent on replacing Mario Gomez at Stuttgart.
Robert Lewandowski of Lech Pozna? could be on his way to Dortmund. Does he bolster the squad or replace wantaway Alexandre Frei?
Wolfsburg made their first signing of the season with Dane Thomas Kahlenberg from Auxerre. There are suggestions that they may be after Luca Toni to be the next signing.
Werder seems to be employing a “if you can’t beat them” philosophy. They have already signed Marcelo Moreno of Shaktar on a loan to buy deal. Meanwhile they seem to be seeking two other players from the UEFA Champs in Darijo Srna and Jadson
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Its Alex Frei, not Sebastian
I do that all the time with him.
Other than that Werder is just about to sign on Marko Marin, which is eagerly anticpiated by Werder supporters as well as his future team mates.
Negotiations seem to be very far with Marin having officially declared that he has decided that Werder is to be his new club.
Also there might be another Diego on the cards for Werder (currently playing for Corinthians)!
Yes Marin will be a good pick up. But with such strong wing play, they might want another enforcer type to play as a double six with Frings. I think I read a loose link to Defour out of Liege. That would do the job.
Srna looks like a no-go as Tottenham are linked today and most news says he is unwilling to move unless its for UCL. And we have half his mates
I think the door is still open for Bayern with Neuer. It seems to me that he and his agent are a lot closer to wanting the move than Magath is. He’s got to have it in his mind that he could be playing Chelsea on a Wednesday rather than Bochum on a Friday come February. That would certainly help in the dogfight for the the national team, something that should remain at the front of his mind for some time to come after the other day’s performance.
I don’t think Werder have expressed any interest in Srna or Jadson. The club operates with a fairly limited budget (despite the sale of Diego) and both players would be really expensive, not least having played outstanding parts at the UEFA-Cup finals. You didn’t mention Mandzukic, with whom Werder have apparently agreed terms, without however reaching an agreement about the transfer fee with Dinamo Zagreb. Zagreb boss Mamic is demanding 15 Mio. €, Allofs is unlikely to pay more than 10-12 Mio. €.
Darijo Srna…but then I thought Bayern Munich had been linked with the Croatian as well? That is apart from Spurs, DP.
And speaking of Bayern, according to Bild, Heerenveen’s Danijel Pranjic is on his way there. The news has been widely reported at other places as well (or at least among my favourite links when it comes to German football, on Google Translate). But then I had also read on Holland’s Voetbal International website that Pranjic had said that he will be having a medical on Monday. Still, Voetbal International is at least more of a respectable publication than a certain Bild…
‘Demba Ba is making noises about leaving Hoffenheim and seems hell bent on replacing Mario Gomez at Stuttgart.’
I say, that is almost ‘killing’ me as a Stuttgart supporter. I had been reading contrasting reports all over the place since yesterday!