January 2025 Transfer Primer: Borussia Mönchengladbach | OneFootball

Borussia Mönchengladbach

Estimated Autumn Transfer Balance = -€7.8 million

Gerardo Seoane's "Fohlenelf" have gotten the proverbial monkey off their back by finally recording back-to-back league wins for the first time in over two-and-half years. After a sustained period of suffering that began with Marco Rose's announcement that he would depart (at the time) Champions' League level Gladbach in the middle of the 2020/21 campaign, BMG enthusiasts finally have a team they can get behind. A series of mediocre trainers, not to mention a team seemingly disinterested in escaping mid-table mediocrity, put this famously loyal fanbase through the wringer.

Newly capped German national team striker Tim Kleindienst remains the biggest factor behind the turnaround, but the improvement of the team also owes much renewed class from Niederrhein veterans. Alassane Plea unexpectedly displaced Kleindienst's fellow offseason arrival Kevin Stöger in the ten slot. Julian Weigl, Rocco Reitz, and Joe Scally have exhibited much more consistent form than in recent years. Though he did enjoy a successful debut campaign, the manner in which Franck Honorat has perfected his partnership with the newly arrived Kleindienst elevates the Frenchman to an entirely new level.

For the first time since Max Eberl abruptly dumped the position in his lap, sporting director Roland Virkus has a relatively straightforward window ahead of him. One certainly didn't envy his task last year. Blocking Premiership offers for Kleindienst shouldn't be too hard as the striker likely doesn't wish to switch clubs again so soon. Selling off one of the members of the central defensive corps will help generate needed inlays. Furthermore, it looks to be the case that Virkus and staff have been proactive enough in procuring a quality replacement.

Dead-Weight Ledger = Jan Olschowsky (GK), Luca Netz (LB), Fabio Chiarodia (CB), Niklas Swider (CM), Yvandro Borges Sanches (ATTM), Grant-Leon Ramos (CF), Shio Fukuda (LS)

Virkus obviously won't be able to park all of his prospects elsewhere. The basic arithmetic of loaning out seven underutilized players on a 27-man-roster doesn't even add up. There nevertheless simply isn't enough room for promising players such as Fabio Chiarodia, Yvandro Borges Sanches, Grant Leon Ramos, and Shia Fukada. Keeper Jan Olschowsky practically begs for a loan-out while Luca Netz makes for a much more difficult conversation. The fact is that Lukas Ullrich should retain the starting left-back role. Netz must go elsewhere.

Expiring contracts =  Tobias Sippel (GK)

One discerns no reason why veteran Tobias Sippel should remain on a roster that features four keepers unless Olschowsky can be loaned out or captain Jonas Omlin sold outright. Navigating the net-minder situation hardly proves a tricky task as it's simply a matter of making one deal. Everyone else on the roster operates under working papers good through 2026. This is thanks to the fact that Virkus and his team skillfully inserted automatic renewals in some contracts tied to performance clauses. Plea and (it is rumored) Robin Hack saw their deals extended through these.

Further Needs =  LB, CB, RW, LW

With the squad effectively strong in all areas, many of the rumors (Castenda, Asllani, and Butler-Oyeji) center around prospective buys for the future. It seems unlikely that the BMG office will shell out significant money for Augsburg's Ruben Vargas given that they already have Robin Hack and a plethora of other attackers capable of playing on the left. The same applies to Bochum's Bernardo. Ullrich's emergence renders this rumored Summer transfer unnecessary.

One can definitely make the case that the team is one major buy away from the pursuit of a top-four finish. The argument that Gerardo Seoane has the players to make this objective a reality nonetheless seems equally as strong. There genuinely exists a contingency plan at every position in the event of injury or form collapse. As unpopular a stance as it may be, Virkus may do better to play it safe.

Rumored Links = Bernardo (LB) Kevin Diks (CB), Niel Pierre (CB), Santiago Castenda (DM), Ruben Vargas (LW), Fisnik Asllani (CF) Nathan Butler Oyedeji (CF)