Bundesliga January 2026 Transfer Primers | TSG 1899 Hoffenheim | OneFootball

The next our 18 Bundesliga transfer primers to be published here on Get German Football News covers TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. It wasn’t with the greatest enthusiasm that the author tipped the Sinsheimers to finish in the top four at the beginning of the season. Once again placing some personal sentiments on the back burner for now, the author must unabashedly admit that the way head coach Christian Ilzer and sporting director Andreas Schicker traversed the chaos engulfing this club is beyond incredible. The duo earn serious plaudits.

Most Bundesliga diehards can find a way of tolerating this club’s success based on the fact that Hoffenheim’s passionate and principled fan scene does deserve to celebrate some good football. It still remains a difficult circle to square in that the TSG supporters also fully deserve to have their voices heard. In any event, one simply has to concede that Schicker (despite all the front office politics) fulfilled his stated summer promise by streamlining and re-tooling this squad almost perfectly. That’s just a hard fact.

TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

The Kraichgauer basically remain on the projected course.

Winter Predictions Check, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Predicted Table Position – 4th place

Actual Table Position – 5th place, 27 points

(8-W, 3-D, 4-L)

(+9 G-Diff)

The only losses came against Bayern München, Eintracht Frankfurt (when they were healthy and rolling at the beginning of the season), Borussia Dortmund, and (in an absolute squeaker on match-day six) Köln. Apart from that, Ilzer’s crew have followed the metaphorical musings of their trainer and gotten the job done. Ilzer’s tactics have proven surprisingly sleek as well. The early season 4-2-2-2 unexpectedly morphed into an absolute steamroller of a 4-1-4-1 and later a pounding panzer of a 4-1-2-3. The Austrian head coach has been vastly underestimated by all of us. 

Autumn Transfer Assessment, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

Estimated Summer Transfer Balance = +€4.6m

The figure above remains wholly immaterial. Club patron Dietmar Hopp – as he did back in the autumn of 2024 to the tune of some €80m – can always pump a cash injection into this club. Hoffenheim never need worry about keeping a budget. Neither does someone as absurdly wealthy as Hopp. Finances simply don’t play a role. All of Schicker’s summer transfers – with the exception of the injured Koki Machida have been “direct hits”. Leon Avdullahu, Wouter Burger, Bernardo, Vladimir Coufal, Albian Hajdari, and Tim Lemperle all qualify as brilliant moves.

Ilzer’s team naturally received two more big boosts in the form of Elversberg loan returnees Fisnik Asllani and Muhammed Damar. Another “hidden boost” came from the revival of total busts from last autumn’s splurge. Robin Hranac and Alexander Prass totally turned their club fortunes around. January 2025 acquisition Bazoumana Touré (not at all bad during the second half of last season) made the jump from “promising” to “superhumanly superb”. Even long-injured actors Adam Hlozek and Ozan Kakak are working their way back successfully now. 

This roster is simply way too deep.

Dead Weight Ledger and Expiring Contracts, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

In terms of shedding dead weight off the 33-man-roster, Schicker’s job over the next few weeks counts as a total cakewalk. The players to move (Dennis Geiger, Mërgim Berisha and Umut Tohumcu) and the players to park (Kelven Frees, Hennes Behrens, and Precious Benjamin) are all obvious. Someone with zero knowledge of footballing management could handle that. Some other tasks require more careful thought.

Figuring out how to handle the many players currently thriving for the reserve squad in the 3. Liga (like Deniz Zeitler, David Mokwa, Luca Duric, Paul Hennrich, Amaimouni-Echghouyab Ayoube) gets a little tricker. Plenty of Bundesliga clubs may be prepared to pay top dollar for that lot. The same applies to completely underutilized striker Max Moerstedt. Tough decisions, but the ridiculous amount of talent in this organization means mistakes can be made. 

Dead-Weight Ledger = Kelven Frees (CB), Luka Duric (CM), Hennes Behrens (LB), Dennis Geiger (CM), Umut Tohumcu (CM), Max Moerstedt (CF), Mërgim Berisha (CF), Deniz Zeitler (CF), David Mokwa (CF), Precious Benjamin (CF)

On the expiring contract front, Andrej Kramaric prepares to take his bow in style one way or another. Again, the obscene amount of talent at TSG comes into play. Whether or not Hoffenheim opt to hand the Croat a one-year-extension or not doesn’t matter. Schicker should probably tie Coufal down with a new deal. Kabak, Ihlas Bebou, and even Kevin Akpoguma – according to most of the reliable German rumor mills – are generating interest and can raise some cash.

Expiring contracts =  Luca Philipp (GK), Ozan Kabak (CB), Kevin Akpoguma (CB), Vladimir Coufal (RB), Grischa Prömel (CM), Andrej Kramaric (ATTM), Ihlas Bebou (CF)

Further Needs and Rumored Links, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim

With everything going so swimmingly, one wonders if there will be any significant arrivals this January. Schicker has more than enough to handle on the departure front, not to mention the other administrative duties placed on him thanks to the total upheaval going on with the board. Links with young strikers such as Alessandro Vogt (20) and Aleksa Damjanovic (17) appear fairly legit. It appears as if the rich are simply set to get richer in this case. 

Further Needs = LB, CM, ATTM, SS, RW

Rumored Links = Panagiotis Tsivikos (LB), Davi Sergio Martinez (CM), Johannes Moser (ATTM), Alessandro Vogt (CF), Aleksa Damjanovic (CF), Gessime Yassine (RW) 

GGFN | Peter Weis