During his time at Rot-Weiss Essen, Maximilian Pronichev never really got going. And the striker is also on the verge of leaving RWE from Thuringia.

Maximilian Pronichev’s move from the Austrian second division to Rot-Weiss Erfurt last summer was associated with great hopes.

But just a few months later, the situation looks quite different: the 26-year-old striker, who played for Rot-Weiss Essen for a year and a half from the beginning of 2020, has been dropped in Erfurt. The club from the Regionalliga Nordost has removed Pronichev from training and match operations. He is allowed to look for a new employer in the winter, Erfurt announced.

“This decision is not popular. He was supposed to be the difference-maker. But we had hoped for more from him,” explained coach Fabian Gerber to Kicker.

The native Berliner with Russian roots got off to a promising start in Erfurt. He scored in his competitive debut, and was involved in five goals in the first five matchdays of the regional league season (four assists, one goal).

In the following nine games, however, Pronichev only managed one more goal contribution – it was hard for him to stand out positively from the Erfurt team, which was generally out of form.

“Of course I imagined things differently and hoped for more. But there was also a downward trend in the entire team,” he told Kicker about his release. ‘My contract has not been terminated. We will talk again and explore what is best for both sides.’

Pronichev with five Regionalliga goals for RWE

It sounds like Pronichev will add another club to his already colorful CV in the second half of the season. The two-time Russian U21 international can already look back on seven professional clubs, having been loaned out time and again by his home club Hertha BSC.

At the beginning of 2020, he also spent a year and a half at Rot-Weiss Essen. However, Pronichev never really got a foothold at the then-third-tier club – which was certainly also due to injury problems and the onset of the coronavirus pandemic shortly after his transfer. Nevertheless, he still managed five goals and three assists in 15 Regionalliga appearances for RWE.

Things went better for Pronichev at Energie Cottbus and Austrian second division club SV Horn – but the offensive player’s career was dealt another blow when he was dropped from the team in Erfurt.