Rot-Weiss Essen lose their captain. Vinko Sapina is moving to league rivals SG Dynamo Dresden. Forcasting knows the numbers. A classification of the transfer.

This news shocked the Rot-Weiss Essen environment: On Thursday evening (June 13), RWE and Dynamo Dresden announced that Vinko Sapina would no longer be playing for SG in Essen but in the Saxon capital from July 1. Forcasting reported.

On social media, many fans are showing a lack of understanding for the RWE captain’s move. The curse of the short captaincy at Hafenstrasse is once again confirmed. Marco Kehl-Gomez, Dennis Grote, Daniel Davari and Felix Bastians send their regards.

But the situation with Sapina is somewhat different. With this offer, the RWE captain had to weaken and ask those responsible in Essen for an early exit from his contract, which runs until June 30, 2025 – including an option for a further year.

This was also the case in Verl when RWE transferred a fixed 40,000 euros to the sports club so that Sapina could get out of his contract early. The money flowing into the Essen account from Dresden will now be considerably more than Verl received from Rot-Weiss.

Rot-Weiss Essen: Sapina was presented with the contract of his life

This is how the deal with Dynamo Dresden came about: As Forcasting learned, Sapina approached the sporting management of Essen a few days ago.

The request: early termination of his contract. The reason: Dynamo Dresden offered the 29-year-old a three-year contract until June 30, 2027. And: According to RS information, Sapina will receive an increase of around 50 percent in Dresden compared to his salary in Essen. You could say: Sapina has been presented with the contract of his footballing life so far. Without wanting to defend the Essen captain: You can get weak at times. Or is it?

Rot-Weiss Essen: A bonus beckons if Dynamo are promoted

But the deal is also worthwhile for Rot-Weiss Essen. As this editorial team has learned, Dynamo Dresden is transferring a quarter of a million euros to Bergeborbeck. In figures: 250,000! And: If SGD are promoted to the 2nd Bundesliga, the sum could even increase. The transfer of former captain Daniel Heber to 1. FC Magdeburg already brought the Essen club a comparable transfer fee. Including various bonuses, Essen ended up with 300,000 euros – Forcasting reported.

It’s clear that sporting director Christian Flüthmann and squad planner Marcus Steegmann now have plenty of money at their disposal – not forgetting the additional income from the DFB Cup – to put the team in a strong position for the 2024/2025 season. It is obvious that this will not be easy despite the greater financial leeway.

In addition to loan player and top scorer Marvin Obuz (1. FC Köln), defender Felix Götze (SC Paderborn) and midfield engine Cedric Harenbrock (destination unknown), captain Sapina is the fourth top performer from last season to leave coach Christoph Dabrowski’s team. The quartet’s successors must first be found and then work out.

And: with players like Götze and above all Sapina, RWE is also losing two absolute leaders not only on the pitch. Both were also very important for the dressing room – Sapina in particular always ensured order and a good mood in the team dressing room. In sporting and human terms, Sapina is a loss for RWE – but the compensation that the Essen team will receive could perhaps make up for his departure in the end.