Boxing Day Bits and Bobs

By: Abby | December 26th, 2007

Apologies for my less-regular posting- I started an actual job two weeks ago, which leaves me with less time to do things like research and write a blog. As much as I want to, of course. Also, it’s the winter break in the Bundesliga, which leaves me with much less to talk about than normal. However! That doesn’t mean there’s nothing going about in the capital.

The current news right now is all about Veli Kavlak, currently of Rapid Vienna in Austria. He’s a 19-year-old Austrian midfielder of Turkish descent, part of the Austrian U-20 team that reached the semifinals at this summer’s U-20 World Cup. He’s also been called up (and played 3 times) for the senior Austrian squad. Hertha has been interested before- they made a €1.2 million offer in the summer for Kavlak, which was turned down.

Now, though, the new idea is a loan-swap deal for Andre Lima. Rapid’s striker Mate Bilic unexpectedly got up and left for the Spanish second-division with Sporting Gijon, which means that Rapid could use a new one. And since Lucio is still injured, we could use another midfielder more than we need the misfiring Lima, who has only managed 1 goal in 10 games. While I’m always fond of giving players time to settle in, we don’t have a lot of luxury in waiting for an attacker to come through at Hertha. So this is, perhaps, for the best.

So what’s the problem? Well, even loaning Lima means that the striker we paid €3.5 million for is a failed purchase. Also, Vienna didn’t want to let Kavlak go before, despite an actual offer. And there’s no guarantee that Rapid Vienna even want Lima, despite their lack of a striker- some articles (go, Bild!) seem to be mostly speculation, putting our want of Kavlak together with Rapid’s need for a striker and getting this. On the other hand, it could be a good solution for all- Lima gets some of his confidence back and we get the use of a talented young midfielder while Lucio (get well soon) continues to recover. And some sources suggest that we’re going to keep trying for Kavlak, Lima or not.

Especially since the Raffael transfer continues to be complicated/drag on. Interest from FC Moscow and PSV Eindhoven complicate things, because they’ll probably pay more money. And it also seems that someone besides FC Zürich owns part of his rights, which always makes things more elaborate than they need to be.

It also looks like Potsdam-born Hansa Rostock defender/midfielder Marc Stein will be joining Hertha- the only doubt is whether he’ll join in winter or summer, when his contract is up.

So, either we’ll get some new players from Austria, Switzerland, and Rostock in January…or we won’t. But I’ll keep you updated either way.