Football Season Guide

Hoffenheim

In


David Raum (def) Greuther Furth; Angelo Stiller (mid) Bayern Munich II; Sebastian Rudy (mid) Schalke; Justin Hoogma (def) FC Utrecht - end of loan; Jacob Bruun Larsen (mid) RSC Anderlecht - end of loan;

Out


Ilay Elmkies (mid) Admira Wacker - on loan; Ryan Sessegnon (r) (def) Spurs - end of loan; Chris Richards (r) (def) Bayern Munich - end of loan; Justin Hoogma (def) Greuther Furth - on loan; Konstantinos Stafylidis (sp) (def) Bochum - on loan;

It was a troubled campaign for Hoffenheim last season as they struggled with personnel problems throughout. Due to the constant changes in the team, consistency became a problem and they eventually finished in the bottom half. Sebastian Hoeneß remains in charge for the upcoming campaign and will be hoping for a strong start. As expected there doesn’t appear to be a lot of financial resources available, so the club have had to be shrewd in the transfer market once more. David Raum has arrived on a free transfer from Greuther Furth and should provide plenty of attacking support at left wing back, the 23 year-old was a standout performer in Liga 2 last season, providing 13 assists. Sebastian Rudy has finally been signed permanently after two successful loan spells, while defensive midfielder and hot prospect, Angelo Stiller joins from Bayern. Hoffenheim have so far managed to stave off interest in star striker Kramaric and if they can keep him at the club it will be a massive boost. You will expect them to be strong going forward this year, playing with expressive freedom on the counter-attack. They also don’t have European football this season, which proved to be a distraction to their league form last time out. The worry of course for Hoffenheim is injuries, their squad depth isn’t the greatest and that could cause problems. They also haven’t added any defensive players, an area where they struggled last season.

Target


Europe - There is no reason why Hoffenheim can’t be fighting for a European place this season, of course consistency will have to improve greatly but the quality in the squad is certainly there.