Football Season Guide

Kaiserslautern

In


Richmond Tachie (att) SC Paderborn; Jan Elvedi (def) Jahn Regensburg; Tobias Raschl (mid) Greuther Furth; Tymoteusz Puchacz (def) Union Berlin - on loan; Hikmet Ciftci (mid) Goztepe - end of loan; Neal Gibs (def) FC Astoria Walldorf - end of loan;

Out


Angelos Stavridis (mid) (sp) FC 08 Homburg - on loan; Jonas Weyand (gk) KSV Hessen Kassel; Nicolas de Preville (att) (sp) released; Muhammed Kiprit (att) released; Dominik Schad (def) (sp) Preußen Munster; Robin Bormuth (def) (r) SC Paderborn - end of loan; Nicolai Rapp (mid) (r) Werder Bremen - end of loan;

Under the guidance of Dirk Schuster, Kaiserslautern enjoyed a comfortable first season back in the second division after promotion the previous year. The Red Devils were the surprise package before the winter break with impressive results but fell away in the closing months of the season. Kaiserslautern will be looking to progress further with Schuster again in charge for the upcoming campaign. This will of course be difficult but a lot of their first-team players have remained at the club and that can only be a positive. Striker Richmond Tachie has joined from Paderborn and has a point to prove after finding opportunities difficult at his previous club. Terence Boyd, now 32 will also need support in leading the line despite his natural goalscoring abilities. Defender Jan Elvedi and midfielder Tobias Raschl have also come in and have good experience in the division with Jahn Regensburg and Greuther Furth respectively. Kaiserslautern may need to add further recruits if they are to push on but the loan capture of left-back Puchacz from Union Berlin is arguably their best acquisition. The Polish international will bring Bundesliga quality to the side and should improve with more minutes under his belt. A never-say-die attitude is likely to continue within the squad and with big home support you would expect them to be tough to beat again at the Fritz-Walter-Stadion.

Target


It is hard to make a case for Kaiserslautern to better their 8th place from last season due to the lack of transfer activity. They should avoid any relegation trouble so consolidation in mid-table would be a sufficient outcome.