Where To Now?

By: Abby | July 2nd, 2009

It’s signed, sealed, and exit-interviewed: Josip Simunic has left Hertha after nearly 10 years.

I honestly thought it wasn’t going to happen. A bit of a boy-who-cries wolf scenario. A player can talk about leaving only so much before I stop believing him, and it seems that my entire time doing this blog he’s been on his way out. But he had a €7 million release clause in his contract this summer, and he played to it. It is startling to me that it’s Hoffenheim that he goes to. They are a young team that plan to be title challengers in the future, and they have a lot of money, but I’d thought that he would go to either a ‘big club’ (Bayern were rumored to be interested) or to England for a large payday. (His salary is set to be bigger at Hoffenheim, but not by a huge amount.)

So, what now? Big Joe was probably one of the best defenders in the Bundesliga last season for us, and his loss is major. There have been times when he’s been a hothead and somewhat of a liability (he is famous for his 3 yellow cards, after all), but last season he was a legend. We will miss him greatly. It hurts, too, that he’s gone to another Bundesliga club. It’d be easier to take if we could pretend that he just wanted to try a new league. Now 31, he probably won’t do so.

So what now? The hope is that Joe is the last departure, but it’s hard to believe in it. There’s rumors swirling about several of our players- I’ve seen (extremely dubious) claims that Manchester United are even interested in making a €12 million bid for Gojko Kacar. It’s disheartening to see the squad that achieved so much get dismantled piece by piece as the bigger clubs come in. At least – and let’s hope that this isn’t another one of my jinxes – it doesn’t seem that Arne Friedrich will be one of the departures.

It’s depressing, though, to focus on the negatives. I hate to see Joe going but at least we got a full fee for him. With a little luck that €7 million will go far. This will be a big, major test for Michael Preetz, to separate himself from his predecessor. If he can use the money to find some hidden gems, instead of just throwing it at Brazil.

One place we might be looking is Tunisia. Amine Chermiti, the young striker we got at the beginning of last season, claims that Hertha are tracking four Tunisian players. He even gives names: Aymen Balbouli, Youssef Mskani, Oussemma Darragi, and Ammar Jemal. I can’t say I know much about any of them, but fortunately, we’ve got an expert in Tunisian football in Rami at Tunisia World Cup Blog, who is always happy to answer questions about players. While Chermiti himself hasn’t still fully settled yet – a long-term injury did not help at all – I think it’s a good sign that we’re looking in some off-the-beaten-path areas for new players. And I have faith that the kid will come good.

Another defensive option is an old favorite of mine, and Lulu’s – Philippe Senderos. This rumor has cropped up before and I’m still enamored by it. The Swiss defender wants out of Arsenal. He’s young and still has quite a lot of good football left in him. The Arsenal fans are all divided on how good he is. My opinion is that he still has the ability that impressed so much in 2006, but his confidence is low. A season under Lulu helped Simunic. Perhaps it can do the same for Senderos?

We’re also in grave need of a striker. In fact, we probably need one more than a defender. There’s talk that one will arrive by the time we get to Austria for our training camp. Bild seems to think that we’ve got our eyes on Adam Szalai, a 21-year-old Hungarian currently playing on Real Madrid’s second team. He’s not unfamiliar with German football, having started his career at VfB Stuttgart. With Madrid buying every attacking player in the world, he might actually play his first team with Hertha.

It’s certainly an exciting time to be a Hertha fan. What kind of excitement still remains to be seen.