There’s naturally reasoning behind the benching of both players, but the fact that neither one has at least not gotten a token relief appearance remains curious. Kumbedi – a highly coveted deadline day signing – was supposed to take some of the load of Wolfsburg right back Kilian Fischer. Dardai’s complete absence from the pitch is odd given the fact that the midfielder can also fill in as a centre-back; something the team desperately needs. 

In Kumbedi’s case, it appears that the language barrier is keeping the Lyon loanee from breaking through in training. The French U21 international – per Kicker – doesn’t have a solid grasp of either English or German. This obviously wouldn’t have been a problem in the days of Joshua Guilavogui’s VfL captaincy or even when Maxence Lacroix was with the club. At present, however, there are no Frenchmen on the team apart from the injured Mathys Angely. 

Dardai seems to have been squeezed out at all his positions. In central midfield, Simonis is busy trying to figure out a way to integrate record signing Vinicius Souza into the team. Christian Eriksen’s arrival leaves him without much prospect of working in attacking midfield and the roster is loaded down with wingers/attack-minded midfielders. 

Dardai’s experience in central defense is actually rather scant. Simonis’ reaction to Denis Vavro’s long-term absence has been to fall back on want-away centre-back Moritz Jenz whilst giving deadline day acquisition Jenson Seelt auditions in friendlies. There simply appears to be no place for the youngest Dardai brother, whose elder siblings Palko and Marton are still earning minutes elsewhere. 

With an estimated market value of €12m, Bence Dardai happens to be a rather expensive player to be doing nothing more than gracing the dugout. Bence’s lack of playing time also renders him non-candidate to represent the heritage country he so proudly committed to last February. 

While Bence’s older brother Marton is off on international duty with the Hungarian national team this week, Bence was stuck preparing to contest a friendly against Marton and his former club Hertha BSC. Bence at least played 90 minutes in the unofficial 0-2 loss. 

Despite all the adversity, Bence attempted to conduct himself with professionalism and class in a recent interview with Kicker. In point of fact, the 19-year-old expressed enthusiasm about facing his former club.

“It’s a special game for me,” Dardai said. “I’m really looking forward to seeing many familiar faces again. Athletic trainers, physios, and former teammates. It’s also important for me to get playing time.“

“I don’t have any strong arguments at the moment,” Dardai – who made 25 appearances across all competitions under Ralph Hasenhüttl last year – said of his current playing-time situation. “It’s a difficult phase that I just have to get through.

“Of course, I had hoped for more, especially because I showed last season that I can play at this level,” Dardai nevertheless continued. “So it’s bitter to not be playing at all at the moment. I assumed that I would at least get some minutes this season.”

“The coach is relying on other players and some new players have joined,” Dardai concluded. “I really want to play. I really want to help the team, but there’s brutal competition. Such phases are part of development. I’ll continue to fight for minutes. Perhaps this will make me stronger.“

GGFN | Peter Weis

Tousart proved to be one of the disastrous flops brought in by former German national team head coach Jürgen Klinsmann during his brief time in charge of Hertha. Since joining Hertha for a quarter-of-a-million Euros from Lyon in the January 2020 transfer window, Tousart’s career has taken a nose dive. 

Ultimately unable to help Hertha escape relegation after the 2022/23 campaign, Union scooped Tousart up from their cross-town competitors for a paltry sum of €2.8m in the summer of 2023. Tousart contested a total of 127 German top flight fixtures for the two Berlin clubs. 

Tousart did manage to score nine goals across all competitions for his Charlottenburg outfit, but never managed to find the back of the net after switching to Köpenick. He made just 15 league appearances last year, mostly as a substitute. He presently maintains an estimated €2.5m market value.

“I would like to thank the club and, above all, the fans for their support,” Tousart noted in a club statement. “Now the right moment has come for me to return to France. I am very much looking forward to it.“

“Lucas was an absolute professional with his heart in the right place,” FCU managing director Horst Heldt added. “At the same time, he was also a great asset to our team on a personal level. He identified fully with Union and was an important part of our team.”

GGFN | Peter Weis

Schwolow’s story remains one of much unfulfilled potential. The Wiesbaden-native came up through the SC Freiburg youth ranks and was once considered one of Germany’s leading goalkeeping prospects. Hertha BSC paid €7m to acquire him from Freiburg ahead of the 2020/21 season.

Schwolow never developed as hoped in Charlottenburg, however, and his estimated market value steadily declined from a peak of €9m. Hertha loaned Schwolow out to Schalke 04 during the 2022/23 campaign, where he was unable to help die Königsblauen avoid relegation.

Released by also-relegated Hertha after the 2022/23 season, Union signed Schwolow on a free two summers ago. He made seven competitive appearances backing up regular starter Frederik Rønnow over the last two seasons. 

Despite the fact that Schwolow has an impressive 206 Bundesliga appearances to his credit, it would likely be the case that his role at Bremen would be to back up young Mio Backaus. The 21-year-old Backhaus actually hasn’t made his Bundesliga debut yet.

GGFN | Peter Weis

The Royal Blues will certainly want to improve on last season after finishing just three points above the relegation playoff, which prompted the club to appoint Muslić following Plymouth’s relegation from the Championship. Appointing the Austrian-Bosnian – who made his name as head coach of Cercle Brugge – was certainly a coup by Schalke, and it signals their intent heading into the 2025/26 season.

Although the bar is certainly low for Schalke, who have flirted with relegation from the 2. Bundesliga after consistently finishing in the bottom half since dropping down a division. Muslić – who remains their most exciting appointment in some time – is S04’s fifth head coach to take charge since their relegation. The Royal Blues should at least have the ability to challenge for promotion, but it’s a long season ahead, and fans certainly won’t get carried away.

The Moussa Sylla show

Schalke fans will be hoping that Sylla – who scored 16 league goals in 27 games – remains fit for the entire campaign as they look to return to the Bundesliga following their relegation in April 2023. The Malian forward – who had interest from Milan in January – certainly has an eye for goal and was one of the 2. Bundesliga’s leading players last season. The 25-year-old only had 27 touches, but registered six shots – four were on target – which shows his intent, and how accurate his shooting is.

GGFN | Daniel Pinder

Where Berisha might be headed now remains uncertain. Hoffenheim continue to seek a taker for one of the players they have no use for ahead of the coming Bundesliga campaign. Hertha – following the capture of Werder Bremen’s Dawid Kownacki – were hopeful of acquiring two strikers with Bundesliga experience. Hertha head coach Stefan Leitl openly appealed to Berisha to join the Charlottenburg side to no avail. 

Hoffenheim sporting director Andreas Schicker has largely delivered on his recent promise to trim the Kraichgau club’s oversized 39-man-squad. The confirmed sale of striker/winger Marius Bülter to FC Köln yesterday cut Hoffenheim’s squad down to 32 professionals. The Sinsheimers also provided an additional morale boost on Friday by confirming a contract extension for keeper and captain Oliver Baumann. 

Multiple German footballing media sources report that Bülter’s sensational sale to Köln was completed for only €1m. The popular 32-year-old attacker was certainly worth more than that to Hoffenheim last season as the team contested the relegation race. Bülter’s seven league goals and four assists went a long way towards ensuring that the TSG avoided the drop.

“Right from the first inquiry, I thought it could be a good fit,” Bülter noted in his Köln-released-statement yesterday. “The talks were very good, and of course I’ve played here a few times before. The stadium with its atmosphere is great. So the whole package was right for me. When I drove over the Rhine bridge on Wednesday evening, it was really special. I’m really looking forward to coming to Köln.” 

GGFN | Peter Weis

Incredible atmospheres and fan culture

Until 1. FC Köln and Hamburg were promoted at the end of last season, the 2. Bundesliga for several years boasted more former German champions than the top flight. Storied clubs steeped in tradition and backed by huge followings – not just across Germany but around the world – find themselves languishing below their standards of decades gone by. All this makes for some incredible atmospheres that must be seen to be believed. And when you factor in the cost of a matchday ticket and beer, not to mention the free transport to the game, then no country rivals Germany.

It’s impossible to predict

For much of last season, 10 clubs were firmly in the promotion race until the final weeks, with the eventual top nine clubs separated by just 10 points. Elversberg upset the apple cart by finishing third and making it to the relegation playoff, just one point behind HSV. The league is simply impossible to predict, anyone can beat anyone and remains fiercely tight throughout. With a host of sides missing out on Bundesliga promotion last season, and the additions of relegated VfL Bochum and Holstein Kiel, along with 3. Liga newcomers Dynamo Dresden and none other than DFB Pokal finalists Arminia Bielefeld, the upcoming campaign promises to be even more unpredictable than the last.

A league of sleeping giants and big names

FC Köln and HSV may have earned promotion back into the top flight – the latter after a seven-year absence – but there are still a number of sleeping giants in the 2. Bundesliga. 1. FC Nürnberg, a nine-time German champion, have found themselves languishing in the second division since 2019. 1. FC Kaiserslautern – who won the Bundesliga in 1998 – found themselves in the 3. Liga in 2022 but since returned and narrowly missed out on the promotion playoff. Schalke 04 and Hertha Berlin are two clubs steeped in history with exceptional fanbases, but find themselves stuck in the second division while Hannover will also be eager to return to the Bundesliga under Christian Titz. And when it comes to big names, there are few bigger than Miroslav Klose in German football, who coaches FC Nürnberg in what is his first professional coaching job.

GGFN | Harry Good 

Kicker and Sport Bild both report that Bremen will receive a sum of approximately €2.5m for the player they once acquired on a free. The purchase option will be automatically triggered when Kownacki reaches a certain number of appearances. This should pose no problem for the 28-year-old, who has still been able to thrive at the 2. Bundesliga level. 

From Hertha’s perspective, Kownacki’s signing heralds the end of rumors linking Hoffenheim striker Mërgim Berisha with a move to Charlottenburg. Kicker confirmed yesterday that the German capital city club had only tepid interest in the former German international and hadn’t tendered a concrete offer. Kownacki scored 13 2. Bundesliga goals for Düsseldorf last season. 

In terms of what the transaction means for Bremen, the Hanseaten clearly had no faith in Kownacki anymore despite the fact that an injury to Marvin Ducksch leaves them in dire need of a number nine. The burning question as to how Bremen plan to cope with this problem yields a rather interesting rumor. 

The club’s reliable Deichstube fan-site reports that Werder are actually interested in acquiring RB Leipzig’s André Silva on a permanent basis. The former Eintracht Frankfurt star came nowhere close to meeting expectations during his recent Bremen loan stint, but the north Germans may still want him. 

Silva scored one goal (a penalty) in seven appearances for Ole Werner’s SV last spring. The Portuguese international also missed from the penalty spot and only logged six minutes as a sub in Bremen’s final eight league fixtures of the season.

It may nevertheless be the case that a club eager to make excuses for Silva might be prepared to make more. If nothing else, Silva could be procured on the cheap. The one-time €45m-valued player is only valued at €4m today. 

Like another RB Leipzig striker who departed the Saxons this summer, Yussuf Poulsen, Silva must be willing to take a significant pay cut in order to potentially gain playing time. Salary issues have hampered Leipzig’s attempts to move their expensive transfer flop in the past. 

GGFN | Peter Weis

Berisha once thrived at Augsburg. Whilst working in the Fuggerstadt during the 2022/23 season, Berisha scored nine goals and contributed four assists in 23 league appearances. The campaign enabled him to raise his estimated market value from €4.5m to €12m and earn two German national team caps under Hansi Flick. Augsburg purchased him permanently from Fenerbahçe Istanbul that summer. 

Unfortunately, nothing has gone right for Berisha since Augsburg then immediately sold him to Hoffenheim for a €14m sum ahead of the 2023/24 season. Berisha struggled to establish himself under then TSG head-coach Pellegrino Matarazzo before an ACL tear (and later a thigh injury) left him out of the loop in Kraichgau. 

Berisha has barely featured at all for Hoffenheim over the last two seasons, scoring just one goal in only 21 Bundesliga appearances. His estimated market value has plummeted from €14m to €3.5m and he counts as one of the many players Hoffenheim are actively attempting to get off their oversized squad.

Hertha themselves rejected a chance to re-acquire their former striker Haris Tabakovic from Hoffenheim this summer due to financial constraints associated with Tabakovic’s salary. Such concerns could also render a Berisha loan to the 2. Bundesliga outfit problematic. 

The two sides would naturally have to come to some sort arrangement in which Berisha’s salary is shared. It is rumored that Hoffenheim and Borussia Mönchengladbach arrived at such a deal when organizing’s Tabakovic’s recently confirmed loan.

GGFN | Peter Weis

Tabakovic joined the Kraichgauer from 2. Bundesliga outfit Hertha BSC last August on a €3m transfer. The Bosnian international nevertheless struggled to establish himself in the German top flight. After a 22-goal season in the second division, Tabakovic scored only three league goals last year. 

Hoffenheim were known to wish to rid themselves of Tabakovic, even offering him back up to his former club this summer. Hertha roundly rejected a chance to buy Tabakovic back due to the fact that they didn’t want the striker’s salary on their payroll.

Gladbach are betting that Tabakovic can do better in the top division this year and spearhead their attack until Tim Kleindienst returns from injury. Tabakovic will emerge as the lone experienced center-forward on the squad once Tomas Cvancara’s loan out is finalized. 

“Haris is an experienced and dangerous striker,” BMG managing director Roland Virkus noted in a club statement. “He’s a real center forward, a guy who can help us immediately with his physical presence.”

“I’m really looking forward to the new challenge,” the player himself added. “I can’t wait to play in front of the fans and experience the atmosphere at Borussia-Park.”

GGFN | Peter Weis

Kownacki scored 13 goals and registered seven assists for Fortuna in the German second division last year. Despite this, Kownacki’s Bundesliga club still doesn’t consider him a serious option for the attack this year; not even after lead striker Marvin Ducksch incurred a serious injury.

A player possessing undoubted potential, Kownacki continues to struggle realizing it. Kownacki scored four Bundesliga goals whilst representing Düsseldorf in the first division during the 2018/19 campaign.

He’s not scored in the German top flight since. Kownacki went without a tally in the top flight during Düsseldorf’s 2019/20 relegation campaign. He also couldn’t score for Bremen in 22 Bundesliga deployments during the 2023/24 season.

Kownacki’s estimated market value plummeted from his career high of €9m in 2019 to a Nadir of €1.5m in 2022. Over the last three years, however, the seven-times-capped international has raised his value back up to €2.5m.

Sport Bild claims that Werder are seeking a transfer fee of €3.5m from the Charlottenburger. Naturally, Hertha would be more amenable to a loan deal with modest and reasonable fees attached. 

GGFN | Peter Weis