Bundesliga transfers hit a low

29 January 2004

HAMBURG – Germany’s Bundesliga clubs have been as careful as never before with winter transfers amounting to a mere 20 players worth EUR 4.5 million by Thursday.

“Lack of security concerning future television income has made the clubs cautious,” said Borussia Dortmund boss Gerd Niebaum on behalf of practically the entire Bundesliga.

Dortmund alone had invested almost EUR 15 million in Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky in January 2001 when the league spent a record EUR 47.7 million during winter trading in that season.

Now the most expensive signing, Swiss talent Marco Streller, cost VfB Stuttgart three million euros. Others switched clubs on loan deals, such as Denmark’s Kim Madsen, who left Wolfsburg for Rostock.

Four clubs, among them champions Bayern Munich and Dortmund, did not invest at all during the January transfer window which ends on Saturday.

DPA
Subject: German news