SV Sandhausen have presented their second new signing before the start of the winter break. He comes from Austria.

The soccer year is not yet over for SV Sandhausen, as the third division club is already preparing for the time after the winter break. One day before the home game against VfB Lübeck (Tuesday, 7pm), SVS announced the signing of Patrick Greil.

The 27-year-old moves to the Hardtwald from Austrian Bundesliga club Rapid Vienna and will strengthen the central midfield of coach Jens Keller’s team. “He is a very strong player who exudes an incredible amount of goal threat and presence in the game,” Keller was quoted as saying about the new signing. “Patrick brings a lot of quality and will be good for our attacking play.”

Greil has spent his career to date in Austria and has been under contract with Rapid Vienna since the summer of 2020. He hardly made any appearances there this season. The midfielder brings the experience of 64 appearances (five goals, eight assists) in the Austrian top flight to Sandhausen. His new club did not disclose the length of his contract.

Greil is SVS’s second winter signing after Lithuanian central defender Edvinas Girdvainis. Apparently, the relegated second division side would like to make some adjustments after the major upheaval in the summer and prepare for a possible promotion race

In recent weeks, Sandhausen have been one of the third division teams with the strongest form. However, the 4-0 defeat at FC Ingolstadt at the weekend put a damper on things. The Keller team is currently sixth in the table, three points behind the relegation places – level on points with Rot-Weiss Essen, who suffered a 2-0 home defeat to Sandhausen at the beginning of December.

Apart from the two additions to the Kurpfalz squad, the third division clubs have so far held back on transfers. Only SSV Ulm 1846 have already announced the addition of Philipp Strompf (Vastaras SK/Sweden) for the remainder of the series