Baumgart ex-protedes
© Imago
According to a report, Union Berlin has two players of the 1. FC Köln and therefore two former protégés of coach Steffen Baumgart on the piece of paper. According to information from the newspaper « Bild », Dejan Ljubicic (27) is at the top of the wishes list, and Linton Maina (25) also interests the Köpenickers, who can also plan the Bundesliga in the coming season.
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.technology/portrait/kompakt/287188-1691252188.jpg?lm=1 "Dejan Ljubicic") |
D. Ljubicic |
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The defensive midfielder Ljubicic and the All-Founder Maina offensive can change for free in summer. The Ljubicic contract ends at the end of the season after four years with 119 missions so far – 81 of them (almost 70%) under Baumgart, which had to leave the position of coach at FC at the end of 2023. The value of the Ljubicics market reached the previous career value of 10 million euros under Baumgart. Maina made just over half of her 102 missions for the Billy Goats under the former coach. Its market value had also increased considerably under Baumgart to 6 million euros in the meantime.
Ljubicic wants to leave 1. FC Köln, Maina not
The wishes of the players seem to be considerably, although different. It is unlikely that Ljubicic was at FC, although the club wishes to extend with the Austrian. Even if the promotion of the Bundesliga succeeds, Ljubicic does not seem to see his future in the city of the cathedral. For him, it is also a question of positioning yourself for the ÖFB selection.
The situation with Maina is different: Berlin-né feels in Cologne and sit on it to recover its regular place when he healed his ankle injury. Maina had to take a break since early March, before, he collected five goals and twelve assists in 28 competition games this season, making him the top scorer in Cologne. A farewell seems conceivable when it lacks the ascent.
There had already been rumors around Ljubicic and Union, where Horst Holdt is responsible, which also brought the Viennese to Cologne at the time. At that time, the FC could have generated a small transfer for Ljubicic, but there was also a lack of width of squad necessary for a departure. In the second half of the season, the player was in the starting eleven seven times. Only four substitutions have been added since the 25th match.