As part of the Cologne test match against the Belgian second division club, a first summer transfer is becoming apparent. Leart Paqarada comes from FC St. Pauli. Managing Director Christian Keller was also annoyed with the opponent.
From summer at 1. FC Köln: Leart Paqarada.
IMAGO/Baering
Christian Keller could not complain about a lack of work towards the weekend. First there was Noah Katterbach, a player on loan from Cologne, who was increasingly dissatisfied with his role at FC Basel. As things stand, the left-back will move to Hamburger SV on loan from Monday. How things will continue with the U-21 international in the summer remains to be seen. His contract in Cologne runs until 2024. It is quite possible that he will try again in Cologne.
The competition for his position will not diminish even after captain Jonas Hector’s career ends. With Leart Paqarada (28), the first change of summer is already certain, the St. Pauli captain (Keller: “The best left-back in the 2nd division!”) is coming to Cologne for three years and thus returning home. He was trained in Leverkusen, where he played for over a decade before moving to SV Sandhausen in 2014 and FC St. Pauli in 2020.
Paqarada is considered one of the best standard shooters in the 2nd league, strong in the game structure, technically adept. Keller, who didn’t want to confirm the conclusion yet: “He’s been playing very consistently for years, he’s very intelligent in the game, has a high level of technical ability, is very confident in building up the game even under high pressure from opponents, and has a lot of solutions.” Keller emphasized that this personnel had nothing to do with Hector’s pending decision.
Test shortened due to staffing issues
Test match opponent Lommel caused trouble on the sidelines. It was contractually agreed with the Belgians (who were late due to a traffic jam) to play this game over 4 times 30 minutes. On Friday evening the Lommel officials asked to be able to play it over the normal playing time of 90 minutes due to personnel problems : “That annoys us a lot. It messes up the planned process a little bit. We would have liked Lommel to improvise a little with junior players.” 60 minutes were planned for each squad player, which had to be said goodbye a week before the start of the league game.
However, the team from Cologne made impressive use of the remaining playing time against completely overwhelmed Belgians. The second division team from the neighboring country only ran behind, had no chance against a consistent Cologne defensive. And going forward, things really got going from the first to the last minute. A small drop of bitterness: the two center forwards David Selke and Steffen Tigges worked well, but they were unable to take advantage of the opportunities that presented themselves.
Baumgart satisfied
The youngsters Denis Huseinbasic and Mathias Olesen did better after the change, both of whom scored twice and turned Schmitz’s 1-0 lead into a 5-0. “We had really good chances to score and allowed very little. A lot of the build-up play worked. But we have to stay calm, something else is coming up for us in the Bundesliga,” said Steffen Baumgart, summing up the game.
