Football Season Guide

Hertha Berlin were underwhelming last season as the pressure of competing on three fronts clearly affected Pal Dardai’s side. But the team from the capital continue to progress and develop their project. The goal of Dardai and sporting director Michael Preetz has always been to form a closely-knit core of largely German youth products and to focus on their own youth development. This ethos is part of the reason that very few signings are made each season, preferring instead to promote from within where possible. Those that have arrived will be looking to develop under Dardai, rather than already being finished products. Lukas Klünter is a young right back from relegated Köln with a bright future while striker Pascal Köpke makes the step up from the second division. Valentino Lazaro has been signed on a permanent deal after impressing last season. In the opposite direction only Mitchell Weiser will be seen as a loss with him making a move up to Europa League side Bayer Leverkusen. It was the Europa League last season which caused Hertha to lose form in the league and without that distraction Dardai will be hoping for an improvement on tenth from last term. Now that last season’s signings have firmly bedded down into the squad there will be no excuse for a slow start. The only concern for Dardai will be where the goals might come from this season. Club captain Vedad Ibisevic only found the net 6 times last season leaving most of the strain on Salomon Kalou and Davie Selke. Neither Kalou nor Ibisevic are getting any younger though. Add to that the fact that Dardai often plays a very conservative form of the 4-2-3-1 formation and it is more than likely that many of Hertha’s matches will be tight affairs.