Bundesliga plundered France, Portugal and Benelux in January

The January transfer period for many competitions is usually along the lines of, “Hope Premier League clubs don’t come for your players and wait for it to be over.” However, the Bundesliga has also proved to be a predator for clubs from Ligue 1, the Eredivisie, the Belgian Jupiler Pro League and the Portuguese Primeira Liga. How will players from these leagues benefit their new teams?

More than twenty players were brought in or called back from the aforementioned leagues by German Bundesliga clubs in the January transfer window. From players full of experience who needed to be rescued from their current location to young talents. So let’s take a look at the most interesting ones.

John Anthony Brooks to Hoffenheim

John Brooks is a Bundesliga veteran. He has a decade in Hertha BSC and Wolfsburg jerseys under his belt. For probably his last big transfer, he chose to go beyond the league where he spent his entire career and signed with Portuguese side Benfica.

There, however, he played just over 200 minutes under the tutelage of Roger Schmidt throughout the autumn, taking the opportunity to go back to Germany in January for a more regular playing load.

The space was offered to him by TSG Hoffenheim, who acquired the former United States international as a forgettable replacement, as Brooks was bolstering Benfica as a free agent. He joined the starting line-up immediately upon his return to the Bundesliga and will lead a young defence aiming to stay out of the relegation battle.

Jonas Omlin to Borussia M’gladbach

Borussia Mönchengladbach are going through a difficult period. A little over a year ago, the club was unable to offer a contract extension to the Ginter, Zakaria pair while maintaining their then current salary terms.

Despite a pandemic period of delayed negotiations for new contracts for the club’s mainstays, coupled with the financial blow the two-year period dealt Gladbach, the club from Germany’s western border may catch up with contract difficulties in the coming transfer window. Among the players with expiring contracts was their goalkeeper, Yann Sommer.

So Mönchengladbach have really taken advantage of Bayern Munich’s troubles in a bravura way and have essentially paid for Sommer’s replacement in the form of Jonas Omlin from Montpellier. They thus replaced one Swiss national team goalkeeper with another.

Philipp Max to Eintracht Frankfurt

Eintracht Frankfurt may have finally replaced Filip Kostic. In the summer, the Europa League winner let the Serbian wing-back and his main creative force towards the attack go to Juventus in Italy. In return, they acquired Luca Pellegrini on loan.

However, the young Italian only hit about a third of the available minutes in the Bundesliga and Eintracht therefore looked for another possible successor to their former workhorse in January.

Pellegrini’s loan spell was prematurely terminated and the 23-year-old flanker headed to Lazio on another loan with a stopover at his parent club Juventus.

Frankfurt brought Philipp Max back to the Bundesliga from PSV Eindhoven on loan. PSV have replaced him with Thorgan Hazard from Dortmund for the next six months.

Nicolas Cozza to Wolfsburg

A regular mainstay at his club, Cozza left the club that nurtured him football-wise in the winter and at the age of 24, he moved from a team in the second half of the Ligue 1 table to ambitious Wolfsburg. Niko Kovac thus complemented the offensive-minded Ridlea Baku on the right with a far more reserved back on the other flank.

Gil Dias to Stuttgart

Stuttgart are looking to stave off not only relegation but also a crisis caused by injuries to several of their attacking stalwarts with the purchase in Portugal. They have therefore scouted Benfica’s unused winger Gil Dias.

Dias, at 26, is a big footballing journeyman who has, with a bit of exaggeration, more away games under his belt than games played. With a contract only until the summer of 2025, he probably won’t be in Stuttgart long-term either, but he can help the club in the absence of Tiago Tomás and Silas.

Daley Blind to Bayern Munich

With a record number of players being sent to the World Cup, it was almost inevitable that Bayern Munich would have one of their mainstays return from the World Cup injured. Lucas Hernández tore the cruciate ligament in his knee right at the start of the tournament and Bayern therefore resorted to strengthening their defence.

The Munich club also hunted in the discussed leagues and scouted Daley Blind as a patch for the defence. He is capable of operating at stopper, left-back and, with a little creativity, probably in midfield as well. The transfer has raised some doubts about the future of Josip Stanišić.

It was the Croatian international who worked as a defensive all-rounder ready to replace any teammate. Traditionally with three titles on the horizon, however, Julian Nagelsmann will surely appreciate any alternative from the bench.

Julien Duranville to Borussia Dortmund

Dortmund engaged the 16-year-old Belgian youth international in the January transfer window, who was snapped up by Borussia Dortmund from Anderlecht. And that was before the player had even properly settled into the first team.

Duranville has played just 241 minutes in the Belgian top flight this season. With the B team, another 230. Thus, Anderlecht did not even capitalize on the talent they had spent ten years shaping in their academy, and the player is already moving on. At Dortmund he joins a host of young wingers such as Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Karim Adeyemi.

Sources: Florian Plettenberg – Twitter, Transfermarkt, Bundesliga