SC Freiburg faces the same problem every year. The biggest performers leave the Breisgau, which involuntarily means that the club has to find itself again. However, this does not mean that it is stagnating.
If you were to make an eleven from the Freiburg departures of the last ten years, there would be a team that would not go into the season as relegation but Europa League aspirants. Roman Bürki, Caglar Söyüncü, Matthias Ginter, Vladimir Darida, Max Kruse, Papiss Demba Cisse and, and, and …
This summer too, Christian Streich had to say goodbye to three top performers. Keeper Alexander Schwolow (Hertha BSC), head of defense Robin Koch (Leeds United) and international striker Gian-Luca Waldschmidt (Benfica Lisbon) followed the call of larger clubs and left the tranquil Baden behind.
Hurray football with coverage – despite notable departures
So the next new beginning? Not quite. Although the twelfth of the table had to replace a lot of quality again in the past transfer period, the first three game days have clearly shown: Freiburg will not start from scratch. As in the previous year, the squad is balanced, at least in its form the presented football has nothing to do with the relegation battle.
Sure, Paderborn did not brick either and had to say goodbye to the Bundesliga despite hurray football, but coach Streich does not let his team run into the open knife. In the transfer phase, the right gaps were closed and suitable players were brought into the club. Bit by bit, the association is also putting aside the great, sometimes false, modesty of recent years.
Wish player becomes record transfer
With Baptiste Santamaria, the people of Breisgau spent a double-digit million amount for the services of a professional for the first time in their history. The 25-year record transfer came from the French first division club SCO Angers and should not have been known to all football fans. But the first appearances of the central midfielder show that the Freiburg team has probably landed a small transfer coup for their ten million euros.
The Frenchman is regarded as the absolute dream player of coach Streich, who was desperately looking for a real top-class player in the center. Defensively robust, secure on the ball and equally self-confident as well as adept, to take heart from the second row and pull it off. In the first competitive game for SCF against VfL Wolfsburg, he was both a driver and a clearer.
