1. FC Köln: Clear Statements Also Come from Paderborn

Cologne's sporting director Birger Verstraete has made it clear that 1. FC Köln is not interested in a commitment from Sven Michel from SC Paderborn. "We're not working on that," Verstraete said at the “LossLess” podcast.

Verstraete also played down speculation about a possible commitment from Konstantinos Mavropanos from VfB Stuttgart. “We are not working on this either,” Verstraete said. Mavropanos’ contract with Stuttgart expires in the summer, which is why the central defender is repeatedly traded as a candidate for FC in the winter or summer.

In the summer, FC had tried to sign Michel, but the striker decided to stay with newly promoted Paderborn. His contract there runs until 2024. This season, Michel has scored ten goals in 15 competitive games for Paderborn.

A commitment from Michel would not have been easy for 1. FC Köln anyway. According to “Bild”, Paderborn is likely to demand a transfer fee of between eight and ten million euros for the 28-year-old. In addition, Michel's annual salary is well over one million euros.

1. FC Köln's financial situation is tense. The club has to save and has already let several players go. In the winter, for example, Ismail Jakobs and Salih Özcan left the club. FC collected a total of twelve million euros in transfer fees for the two.

1. FC Köln are currently in eleventh place in the Bundesliga with 20 points from 17 games. The gap to the relegation zone is only four points. The next game for Steffen Baumgart's team is on Saturday (January 21, 2023) at 15:30 at Eintracht Frankfurt.