SV Waldhof Mannheim has added an attacker to its squad. Rot-Weiss Essen also showed interest in this striker.
SV Waldhof Mannheim have made another move on the transfer market and have signed 23-year-old centre-forward Charles-Jesaja Herrmann from Belgian first division side KV Kortrijk.
The German attacking player with Ghanaian roots was last loaned to NAC Breda. At 1.90 metres, Herrmann will be another option for the Buwe’s offensive line for Rüdiger Rehm’s team.
At the end of June, Forecasting had reported that Herrmann was also a topic at Mannheim’s league rivals Rot-Weiss Essen. According to our information, a meeting between Herrmann, his advisors and Essen’s squad planner Marcus Steegmann and Christoph Dabrowski also took place at Hafenstraße at the beginning of July. However, RWE did not make a contract offer to the quick-as-an-arrow and goal-scoring striker. Waldhof Mannheim was a different story. SV won the race against several other third-league clubs interested in Herrmann, including 1860 Munich.
Jesaja Herrmann spent his youth in the youth training centre of VfL Wolfsburg. There, Herrmann advanced to become a 27-time German national U-player. The centre forward scored a total of 11 goals. In the A- and B-Junioren Bundesliga, Herrmann scored a total of 42 goals in 68 games for the Wolves and set up a further 14 goals. The 23-year-old won the Regionalliga Nord with VfL Wolfsburg’s U21s in the 19/20 season.
I take on this task here at SV Waldhof with great anticipation. I want to prove my qualities here again and help the team to be successful. Now it is important for me to quickly find my way into the team.
Isaiah Herrmann
“With Jesaja, we have been able to convince a very interesting player. He brings a good combination of athleticism and technique to our team. With his speed, he brings another important component to our central attacking unit, from which we hope to gain further offensive flexibility,” said Tim Schork, managing director of sport at SV Waldhof Mannheim.
The son of former Bundesliga professional Charles Akonnor (121 Bundesliga games and 198 matches in the 1st and 2nd Bundesliga for Wolfsburg, Fortuna Köln and Unterhaching, editor’s note) was originally contracted to Belgian first division club KV Kortrijk until the summer of 2024. Last season, the Belgians loaned him to NAC Breda (31 appearances, four goals) in the Netherlands.
The former German junior international – Herrmann played for all DFB teams from U15 to U19 – is considered to be very fast and a goal scorer. He underlined this in his junior years when he scored 21 goals in 25 U17 Bundesliga matches and also 21 goals in 43 U19 matches for the junior teams of VfL Wolfsburg – Herrmann also had a professional contract with the Lower Saxons.
“I’m taking on this task here at SV Waldhof with great anticipation. I want to prove my qualities here again and help the team to be successful. Now it is important for me to quickly find my way into the team,” says Herrmann.