VfB Homberg has also struck a blow for SV Straelen, who have withdrawn from the Oberliga Niederrhein. The captain is coming.

VfB Homberg have pulled off a small transfer coup during the winter break. Luca Thissen, who captained SV Straelen in the first half of the season, has joined coach Stefan Janßen’s team.

The defensive midfielder came through the youth teams of Fortuna Düsseldorf, where he played 23 games for the U17s (two goals) and 26 games for the U19s (three goals, one assist). At 19, Thissen also made his debut for the U23s in the Regionalliga West, where he made a total of five substitute appearances in 2022/23 – also hampered by a broken metatarsal.

Last summer, the center-back, who celebrates his 21st birthday on Sunday (February 4), then decided to make the move to Regionalliga relegated SV Straelen. Under coach Sunay Acar, Thissen, who was born in Neuss, immediately became captain and impressed.

Absolute leader in Straelen

Acar played the youngster in every game – both in the cup and in the league. With the exception of the 2nd round of the Lower Rhine Cup against TuRU Düsseldorf (3:0), where Thissen was substituted at the break, the 1.77-meter man was always on the pitch for at least 75 minutes.

The performances were right. In a newly assembled and young team, Thissen scored two goals and provided two assists in 21 competitive matches. With four wins in a row, the team from Straelen went into the winter break in third place in the table.

However, SVS and its players cannot buy anything from this, as the club withdrew from the game. Thissen is already the tenth Straelen player to be introduced to a new club – two more will follow shortly.

Meanwhile, the big beneficiary is VfB Homberg, currently 10th in the Oberliga Niederrhein, who can look forward to a promising young player with experience.

Bartu comes from Venlo

And that’s not all: in addition to Thissen, the club also announced the signing of Berkan Can Bartu from the U21 team of Dutch second division club VVV-Venlo on Tuesday. These are the fourth and fifth new winter signings for VfB. Luca Happe (SV Sodingen), Ryo Iwata (Sportfreunde Baumberg) and Kingsley Marcinek (TVD Velbert) had previously signed