Croesus 1. FC Köln – Schalke miles behind the top teams in terms of squad value

The new season has begun, the squads have new market values, but a lot will still happen between now and August 30.

The new season officially starts on July 1. This also means that all additions and departures made so far will be included in the clubs’ new market values.

The portal “transfermarkt.de” provides an overview, even if the values are of course estimates. The new season has begun, the squads have new market values, but a lot will still happen between now and August 30.

It will be interesting to see how the values develop between July 1 and the end of the transfer window on August 30. Some clubs are almost finished with their plans, while others still have numerous vacancies.

In the Bundesliga 2, it is noticeable that 1. FC Köln is clearly ahead of the competition. Since key players such as Jan Thielmann, Eric Martel, Luca Waldschmidt, Florian Kainz and Mark Uth will remain after relegation, FC will automatically be the favorites.

However, there are already 34 men in the Cologne squad, while Fortuna from Düsseldorf currently have eight men less to choose from, but are still in third place with a squad value of 44 million euros. While something will happen here, Cologne are aiming to reduce the size of their squad, which means that the FC value could be reduced by a whopping nine million euros if Marvin Schwäbe and Dejan Ljubicic leave

Schalke 04 training kick-off June 26, 2024
Schalke 04 training kick-off June 26, 2024

Then FC would still be in first place, especially as Fortuna are threatened by the loss of Christos Tzolis (market value of ten million euros). Cologne and Düsseldorf can still lose here, but they will still finish miles ahead of FC Schalke 04.

Despite having 34 men in the squad, they are only in eighth place with a squad value of €21.60 million. Should the players who can still leave also leave, the value would fall by a further three million.

It is clear that Schalke is not a favorite for the top three places if you only look at the squad value. Ahead of Schalke are Cologne, Düsseldorf, Hertha BSC, Nuremberg, Hamburg, Darmstadt and Hannover.

However, shifts are also possible here, as Nuremberg alone is threatened by the loss of goalscorer Can Uzun, who is valued at twelve million euros. If he leaves, Nuremberg will drop directly from fourth to seventh place