OFFICIAL: Remo Freuler Is An Olympiacos Player — The First Major Piece Of The Post-NEC Midfield Rebuild Is Complete | OneFootball

Olympiacos have spent the days since Nijmegen talking about change. Now the first major football change is official. Remo Freuler has signed.

The club announced the Switzerland international Monday morning after the 34-year-old completed his medical examinations in Athens.

This is the first major signing completed after Evangelos Marinakis and José Luis Mendilibar decided to continue together and publicly committed to rebuilding the squad.

Olympiacos did not sign another version of Hezze

Santiago Hezze is at his best when the match demands aggression. He attacks second balls,

jumps toward opponents, covers ground, and breaks up transitions.

Where to stand when a teammate presses.

When the full-back can advance.

When the ball needs to go forward immediately.

When the right decision is actually to keep it for another three passes.

That kind of midfield intelligence is difficult to quantify in one headline statistic. It is also precisely what unstable knockout matches often expose.

NEC was an example of why Olympiacos need him

Olympiacos’ problems against NEC were not simply caused by players losing individual duels. The bigger issue was structural. When pressure worked, Olympiacos could become dangerous. When NEC escaped the first line, the team sometimes became stretched.

Rodinei was high.

A midfielder had jumped.

The defensive line suddenly faced open territory.

Those are moments where a veteran central midfielder can influence a match before anybody makes a tackle.

Freuler has spent years operating in Serie A systems where positional discipline is fundamental. His 301 Serie A appearances matter for that reason more than as a résumé ornament.

Atalanta is particularly relevant to Mendilibar

Freuler’s six years at Atalanta are interesting because Gian Piero Gasperini’s football also demanded aggressive positioning and enormous tactical responsibility from midfielders. He could not simply stand in a holding zone. He had to recognize:

when to follow;

when to rotate;

when to cover wide;

when to attack forward.

Those experiences should translate relatively naturally into the demands Mendilibar places on central midfield. The systems are not identical. The mental requirements have overlap.

His age needs to be viewed alongside his availability

Freuler is 34. That remains the obvious risk. Olympiacos are not acquiring a midfielder with six years of physical development ahead. But the official club résumé reinforces why they are comfortable with that risk: Freuler still made 40 appearances for Bologna last season and remained heavily involved at international level.

This is not a veteran arriving after eighteen months of marginal football. He has been playing. The question is how Mendilibar manages the workload.

That may be why another midfielder remains so important

Freuler should not be expected to solve the entire midfield alone. Current reporting continues to place Olympiacos in pursuit of another major central midfielder, with Cristian Cásseres Jr. and Gustavo Puerta the most prominent active files. That broader context makes the signing considerably more logical.

Freuler can provide experience and control.

A younger or prime-age addition can provide the athletic range required across a long season. That produces balance.

Imagine a Freuler–Hezze partnership

The conceptual fit is straightforward. When Hezze jumps:

Freuler protects.

When Freuler receives:

Hezze can move higher.

When Olympiacos lose the ball:

Hezze attacks the transition while Freuler reads the second space.

When Olympiacos dominate possession:

Freuler can help control circulation rather than requiring Hezze to become the primary organizer.

Those complementary skill sets could reduce the number of responsibilities currently placed on individual midfielders.

Mouzakitis may also have an interesting opportunity here

Christos Mouzakitis is another player who could benefit rather than simply lose minutes. Young midfielders often improve dramatically beside experienced players who organize the areas around them. Freuler can potentially provide that platform. Mouzakitis takes risks on the ball. Freuler ensures the structure behind those risks remains intact.

If Mendilibar manages the rotation properly, this does not have to become youth versus veteran. It can become development through partnership.

The Scipioni situation becomes more difficult

There is still a roster mathematics problem. If Olympiacos sign another midfielder after Freuler, Lorenzo Scipioni’s pathway becomes increasingly crowded. Previous SPORT24 reporting described him as the most likely midfielder to leave, potentially on loan.

That would become understandable if the club can guarantee him meaningful playing time elsewhere.

Olympiacos have to avoid strengthening the first team while accidentally freezing the development of players they still believe in.

The transfer also has excellent economic logic

There is no acquisition fee. That allows Olympiacos to add a highly experienced midfielder while preserving substantial transfer capital for the younger player who follows. That matters if the club ends up paying approximately eight figures for Cásseres, Puerta or another priority. In portfolio terms:

Freuler = experience without transfer fee.

Second midfielder = expensive younger/prime-age asset.

That is coherent squad construction.

His European experience fits the stated objective

Olympiacos explicitly said after the Marinakis–Mendilibar meeting that they intend to build a team capable of making a serious Europa League run. Freuler has played 28 Champions League and 24 Europa League matches. He understands that environment.

Away European matches.

Different tempos.

Managing leads.

Surviving difficult 15-minute periods.

Those are exactly the details that become decisive once European football moves into knockout stages.

This is why the signing could be more important than it looks

Freuler is unlikely to become Olympiacos’ most spectacular transfer. He is not 21. He does not come with a €15m fee. He will not produce highlight compilations built primarily around goals and dribbles.

But the NEC elimination showed that Olympiacos needed somebody capable of making the midfield behave like a unit when the match became chaotic.

That is the proposition behind Remo Freuler. And as of Monday morning, it is no longer a proposition on the transfer board. He is officially an Olympiacos player.