Football Season Guide

Fortuna Dusseldorf

In


Karol Niemczycki (gk) Cracovia; Yannik Engelhardt (mid) SC Freiburg II; Vincent Vermeij (att) SC Freiburg II; Jamil Siebert (def) Viktoria Koln - end of loan;

Out


Dawid Kownacki (att) (k) Werder Bremen; Rouwen Hennings (att) (r) SV Sandhausen; Christoph Klarer (def) (r) SV Darmstadt; Jorrit Hendrix (mid) (r) released; Kristoffer Peterson (mid) (sp) Hapoel Beer Sheva; Raphael Wolf (gk) (sp) released; Nana Ampomah (att) released; Michal Karbownik (def) (r) Brighton & Hove Albion - end of loan; Kwadwo Baah (att) Watford - end of loan; Nicklas Shipnoski (att) Arminia Bielefeld;

Coach Daniel Thioune steered Dusseldorf to a more than respectable fourth-placed finish in his first full season in charge. Although promotion was always in their sights, they were unable to put enough pressure on the front three due to their inconsistent away record. It has been a quiet summer for Dusseldorf with only three new faces so far. Polish goalkeeper Niemczycki is expected to challenge Kastenmeier for a starting spot while midfielder Engelhardt and striker Vermeij are joining from the Freiburg second team. Both are unproven at this level but have shown plenty of promise in the third division. New boy Vermeij and youngster Niemiec have big shoes to fill after the departures of prolific scoring duo Kownacki and club legend Hennings. The experienced Ginczek is still on board but finding the net may not be as easy to come by this campaign. Hendrix, Klarer, and Peterson have also moved on so you would expect Dusseldorf to dip into the market again before the transfer window shuts. Their home form has been exceptional under Thioune and you would again expect them to be tough to beat in front of their supporters. If they can show more discipline on the road then it could be another solid season ahead.

Target


Dusseldorf are capable of challenging for promotion but the loss of key players and lack of squad depth could make this difficult unless some more purchases are made.