Bundesliga January 2026 Transfer Primers | SC Freiburg | OneFootball

The next of our 18 Bundesliga transfer primers to be published here on Get German Football News brings us to SC Freiburg. The Breisgauer – subjects of more than their fair share of extra GGFN analysis this autumn – ride high as players such as Noah Atubolu, Christian Günter, and Vincenzo Grifo reveal in new club and league records. It’s been an absolute pleasure pumping out articles about such players week after week. 

The many landmarks and milestones attained by the Schwarzwälder do nevertheless leave one forgetting that the club currently lags behind a bit with regard to sporting expectations. The author tipped them to be just a shade higher in the table than they are. Julian Schuster’s Badeners certainly don’t belong behind the most recent club that we covered, 1. FC Union Berlin.

Part of this has to do with the fact that Freiburg simply got off to an awful start in the Bundesliga, dropping their opening two fixtures against FC Augsburg and 1. FC Köln before we got to the winter break. Better than expected performances in the Europa League and DFB Pokal also left them not quite up to scratch when it came time to face teams like Gladbach, Hoffenheim, Heidenheim, and Union on Bundesliga match-days.

SC Freiburg

All things considered, we’re still in pretty decent shape. 

Winter Predictions Check, SC Freiburg

Predicted Table Position – 8th place

Actual Table Position – 9th place, 20 points

(5-W, 5-D, 5-L)

(-1 G-Diff)

Not bad at all for a team that lost leading goal-scorer Ritsu Doan during the offseason. As bitterly disappointing as Freiburg’s failure to qualify for the Champions’ League on the final day of last season was, can one really imagine where Freiburg would be now if they had the added pressure of competing in the European elite class? It’s entirely conceivable that they’d be in a worse off position than the team that beat them to the UCL place: Eintracht Frankfurt. No one in their right mind should wish to be where Dino Toppmöller’s SGE is now. 

Autumn Transfer Assessment, SC Freiburg

Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = -€1.8m

The many comings-and-goings over the course of the offseason leave Freiburg in something of a “transitional year”. Signs point to a brighter future once some of the bumps in the road are traversed. One projects Schuster’s crew can pick up four points before the Hin-Runde concludes and will definitely be much better prepared to face the likes of Augsburg and Köln once the Rück commences. Most of the offseason acquisitions have been spotty as they adjust to their new roles with their new club. That could be preparing to change. 

One really likes what one has seen from young Derry Scherhant, even if Grifo’s presence on the left means he can’t get into a groove as a regular starter. Scherhant has banged home an impressive five goals across all competitions this year. After a horrendously disastrous start, Yuito Suzuki’s form is on the rise again. The 24-year-old initially looked completely incapable of handling the Bundesliga on a physical level. Watching Suzuki after the November international break accorded him a chance to put in some extra training, one can tell that it’s paid off. 

Injuries slowed down high-profile summer additions Igor Matanovic and Philipp Treu. The latter is most assuredly back on course after shaking off that serious shoulder injury. Treu has claimed his starting right back role and enters the winter break on absolute fire following six scintillating performances in the league, cup, and UEL. Unfortunately, Matanovic has produced next-to-nothing following that early season brace against Stuttgart. For some reason, Schuster can’t get ether Matanovic or his fellow woefully inconsistent striker Junior Adamu rolling. 

Cyriaque Irié’s bout with malaria means we’ve seen nothing of him. Before moving on to areas in which the squad can be strengthened, we’ll also need to mention that we’ve seen mostly total crap on the right-hand attacking side left vacant by Doan’s departure. Former Heidenheim teammates Eren Dinkçi and Jan-Niklas Beste have both been beyond awful. One wonders if it’s possible to train Scherhant, Suzuki, Treu, Adamu, Matanovic, Johan Manzambi, or indeed some local piece of livestock to work that side. 

Hell, put Anthony Jung up there for all it matters at this point!

Dead Weight Ledger and Expiring Contracts, SC Freiburg

Like so many other smaller market Bundesliga clubs we cover in these primers, Freiburg often get away with not disclosing the full details of their contracts. Daniel-Kofi Kyereh (for whom this author’s heart continues to break) is the only player on a confirmed expiring deal. The four assessed pieces of “dead weight” also contain three semi-heartbreaking stories. The fact that Maximilian Philipp never got back on track in Breisgau after that early “false dawn” over two years ago smarts. The total collapse of Philipp’s career just plain hurts. One can add his name to the list of attackers who tanked upon joining Werder Bremen.

Central defender Max Rosenfelder’s development didn’t proceed apace and it’s not a question of simply loaning the 22-year-old out so that he can find his footing elsewhere. Rosenfelder somehow lost his ability to put anything close to resembling Bundesliga-level play over the last 18 months. The SCF administrative duo of Jochen Saier and Klemens Hartenbach would do well to find a way of ridding themselves of him entirely via some sort of “Kevin Schade-Merlin-Röhl-Style” loan deal. A English club with deep pockets can take care of this particular heartbreak. 

The fact that Nicolas Höfler will be departing Freiburg after 14 seasons may not seem that heartbreaking at all given the midfielder’s notorious reputation for making horrible head-slapping mistakes. One will still miss the 35-year-old somewhat as he also almost always managed to fight his way back into the SCF XI. Höfler can head to the rocking chair secure in the knowledge that he never even so much as considered giving up. The three sadder stories leaves us only with promising young center back Bruno Ogbus to discussed. Ogbus should be parked elsewhere on loan to get him playing practice. 

Dead-Weight Ledger = Bruno Ogbus (CB), Max Rosenfelder (CB) Nicolas Höfler (DM), Maximilian Philipp (AM)

Expiring contracts =  Daniel Kofi-Kyereh (ATTM)

Further Needs and Rumored Links, SC Freiburg

Online sleuthing about potential incoming transfers remains virtually nonexistent. In six years of writing these primers, the author has probably found no reliable links on the Freiburg end four times. Nothing penetrates the bubble of peaceful and idyllic Freiburg. Saier and Hartenbach, as always, simply get to conduct their work in peace. Since there’s nothing much to discuss here, we’ll simply commend Saier and Hartenbach for their continued solid work. Freiburg were the most proactive side in the summer transfer window, wrapping up practically all of their major acquisitions just days after the season concluded.

The duo who have been fronting this club’s front office for well over a decade are, simply stated, excellent administrators. Freiburg leadership in general shines. The author frequently likes to emphasize that Freiburg are one of the most competently run clubs in all of the Bundesrepublik, and such a statement is coming from someone who possesses a membership card. Everything generally runs smoothly here from the “Mitglieder Vorverkauf” to product one ultimately witnesses live on the pitch. One looks forward to another successful calendar year here. 

Further Needs = LB, RW, AM

Rumored Links = (None Reliable)

GGFN | Peter Weis