Third winter signing for FC Schalke 04: Dejan Ljubicic is highly likely to join from Dinamo Zagreb.

FC Schalke 04 is gearing up for the Bundesliga: Following Edin Dzeko (AC Florence) and backup goalkeeper Kevin Müller (1. FC Heidenheim), the third winter signing is all but certain. Dejan Ljubicic is coming from Croatian first-division club Dinamo Zagreb.

The Croatian newspaper Sportske Novosti and Sky were the first to report the news. According to Croatian media reports, Ljubicic is expected to cost around one million euros and will sign a three-year contract following a medical exam this weekend.

Dejan Ljubicic—who is he? The Austrian was trained as a soccer player at Rapid Vienna and turned professional there. He wore the Rapid jersey from 2006 to 2021—an impressive 15 years. He appeared in 131 competitive matches for Rapid (8 goals, 10 assists). For the 2021–2022 season, he moved to 1. FC Köln, where he was expected to play as a classic defensive midfielder. Under coach Steffen Baumgart, however, he developed into a hard-working, versatile midfielder who also played in other positions. For Cologne, he played 83 times in the Bundesliga (8 goals, 4 assists) and 27 times in the second division (4 goals, 3 assists). At one point, his market value reached ten million euros.

But when his contract expired, he left Cologne-Müngersdorf and moved to Zagreb to play in Europe. “Thank you to everyone who supported me—through the best days, through the hardest nights,” he wrote upon leaving the club.

Things didn’t go so well for him in Zagreb, however. Although his team is currently at the top of the table, he lost his starting spot in October. Since then, he has spent three league games on the bench and was substituted into the game three times. His market value has since dropped to three million euros.

What Schalke coach Muslic has in common with Ljubicic

Now he is apparently ready for another move. According to Sky, this decision is also based on “family reasons.” Interestingly, he shares a commonality with S04 coach Miron Muslic: both are Austrian, but their roots lie in Bosnia and Herzegovina.