Football Season Guide

Holstein Kiel

In


Patrick Erras (mid) Werder Bremen; Marcel Benger (mid) Borussia Monchengladbach II; Holmbert Aron Fridjonsson (att) Brescia; Flete Arp (att) Bayern Munich II - on loan; Julian Korb (def) free; David Atanga (mid) Admira Wacker - end of loan; Makana Baku (att) Warta Poznan - end of loan; Timon Weiner (gk) FC Magdeburg - end of loan; Philipp Sander (mid) SC Verl - end of loan; Lion Lauberbach (att) Hansa Rostock - end of loan; Steven Skrzybski (mid) Schalke;

Out


Jonas Meffert (r) (mid) Hamburger SV; Janni Serra (r) (att) Arminia Bielefeld; Dominik Reimann (sp) (gk) FC Magdeburg; Benjamin Girth (sp) (att) Eintracht Braunschweig; Daniel Hanslik (att) FC Kaiserslautern; Jae-Sung Lee (k) (mid) FSV Mainz; Jannik Dehm (r) (def) released; Niklas Hauptmann (r) (mid) FC Koln - end of loan;

Holstein Kiel were strong under Ole Werner last season, narrowly missing out on promotion and reaching the semi-finals of the DFB Cup. At just 33, Werner is still a young coach and so far he has done an excellent job since his arrival in October 2019. This coming season will be his biggest test at the club though, after the departure of some key players in the summer. Main man Jae-Sung Lee, as expected, has moved to a bigger club, while striker Serra and midfield anchor Meffert have moved on. Hauptmann has also returned to Koln after his loan spell. Despite the notable outgoings, Kiel have addressed the balance reasonably well with some shrewd signings of their own. Defensive midfielder Erras has joined from Werder Bremen and his experience of top flight football should come in handy. Winger Skrzybski is also a good addition from Schalke. The loss of Lee and Serra could impact their ability to score goals so Werner will be hoping new striker Fridjonsson hits the ground running. Loan signing Arp has also come in from Bayern and he too could add goals. You expect Kiel to again be strong defensively this term, with no changes to their back-line, other than the departure of Dehm at right-back and his incoming replacement Julian Korb.

Target


Top half finish. It is difficult to see Holstein Kiel replicating their success from last season but they certainly won’t be a pushover, a top half finish is probably the best they can hope for, given the quality of sides in the division.