15 players have left Rot-Weiss Essen this summer 2023. Two men are still without a new employer. That could change now.

Rot-Weiss Essen carried out a major squad upheaval for the 2023/2024 season. No fewer than 15 players left Hafenstraße. With Erolind Krasniqi and Clemens Fandrich, who no longer play a sporting role despite valid contracts until the summer of 2024, players number 16 and 17 could still follow.

Of the 16 players who have left the club so far, Felix Herzenbruch and Kevin Holzweiler are still without a new club, as of 5.30 p.m. on Wednesday, 30 August.

While Herzenbruch continues to keep fit at Rot-Weiß Oberhausen, but according to forecasting information is not a subject for signing, Holzweiler is also training with a club. Namely RWE’s third-division rival FC Erzgebirge Aue.

And unlike Herzenbruch, winger Holzweiler is to receive a contract with the Saxons. The signing of the 28-year-old could be accelerated by two contract terminations. Alexander Sorge (30) and Ramzi Ferjani (22) are both free to find new clubs.

Sorge has already been made an offer to terminate his contract. His advisor Sebastian Schulze told “Bild”: “We will not accept the offer in this form. As things stand, Alex will stay on at Aue.”

Either way, coach Pavel Dotchev (57) is keen to sign Holzweiler. The two have already worked together at Viktoria Köln. Under Dotchev, the ex-Essener played 48 matches in Cologne. The Aue coach knows the qualities of the bustling offensive player.

He was not convincing at Rot-Weiss Essen. Holzweiler had been under contract with RWE since the summer of 2021 and only managed to play 29 matches for the Ruhrpott club in the two years. During his time at RWE, a cruciate ligament rupture set the 176-time Regionalliga and 69-time Drittliga player back for a long time. In Aue, he could get a new chance in the 3rd League.

The RWE departures in the summer of 2023 at a glance:

Simon Engelmann (SV Rödinghausen), Moritz Römling (VfL Bochum, was on loan), Meiko Sponsel (1. FC Köln, was on loan), Luca Wollschläger (Hertha BSC, was on loan), Raphael Koczor (FC Kray), Niklas Tarnat (TSV 1860 München), Oguzhan Kefkir, Michel Niemeyer (both Rot-Weiß Oberhausen), Lawrence Ennali (Gornik Zabrze), Ben Heuser (FC Cosmos Koblenz, on loan), Nico Haiduk (Borussia Dröschede), Mehmet Timur Kesim (ETB SW Essen), Aurel Loubongo (VfB Oldenburg), Felix Herzenbruch, Kevin Holzweiler (both destination unknown)