VfB Stuttgart: farewell game for Florian Müller

Appeared in 19 Bundesliga games in the 2022/23 season and in the relegation: Florian Müller (M).

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For a year and a half and 48 Bundesliga games in the VfB shirt, his status remained untouched. Florian Müller was seeded number 1. Even one or the other faux pas that goalkeepers have to be conceded to changed nothing. Until the 25-year-old, whose nerves were becoming increasingly frayed over time, had to sit out in Freiburg before the 20th matchday of the current season due to gastrointestinal problems. Bredlow took over and subsequently secured the starting position. Now the paths of Müller and the traditional club seem to be parting. The keeper is in talks with SC Freiburg.

Back to the club where he made it big. In the 2020/21 season, the keeper landed in Breisgau on loan from FSV Mainz 05 and had an excellent season. This did not go unnoticed at VfB, who secured the services of the man from Saarlouis after Gregor Kobel switched to Borussia Dortmund. Incomprehensibly, however, Müller did not manage to build on this top level and bring consistency to his performances. Strong performances were followed by serious ones with uncertainties that increasingly scratched the keeper’s mental stability. Until the changing of the guard was inevitable.

Bredlow is also absent from the relegation second leg

The inner ligament strain in Bredlow’s left knee from the game against TSG Hoffenheim (1-1) brought Müller back into the game. Bredlow, who missed the relegation first leg against Hamburger SV last Thursday, is now also out of the second game on Monday. It is “impossible that he can play,” said VfB coach Sebastian Hoeneß. “It remains the same as in the first leg.” With Müller between the posts, who will probably play his farewell game with it.

Discussions with Freiburg have already begun. In Breisgau, Müller could take the vacant squad place from Mark Flekken, who is leaving SC for FC Brentford. It is not planned that the Stuttgart native will also inherit it as number 1. Freiburg want to promote goalkeeping talent Noah Atubolu (21). “We’re trying to get a goalkeeper who we absolutely trust in the Bundesliga, but who clearly accepts Noah as number 1,” said sporting director Klemens Hartenbach, whose club is also dealing with Hertha’s Alexander Schwolow.

Stuttgart: candidates from Salzburg and Sandhausen

Stuttgart, who want to bet on U-19 talent Dennis Seimen in the near future, are not idle. They have already been offered Augsburg’s Rafal Gikiewicz, but this was not met with approval. A number of possible candidates are also discussed. One of them is Philipp Köhn (25) from RB Salzburg, who, however, with a transfer fee of around eight million euros, blows up VfB’s expectations. Another is Patrick Drewes (30), who was relegated to the third division despite a good season with Sandhausen. The question is how he would cope with the challenge as a possible number 1 in the Bundesliga.

You want to secure the league for tomorrow Monday in Hamburg. “We have to be prepared for an HSV that will throw everything in again,” says Hoeneß. “It’s going to be heated, it’s going to be loud. Just like in the first leg, we have to be there, sharp and focused. Mentally and physically.” The necessary seriousness was given despite the convincing 3-0 in the first leg. “The team shows, as so often recently, a good feeling for the situation.” Nevertheless, the 41-year-old has had plenty of conversations. Not out of concern for negligence, “but to make sure that the boys know that the second step has to follow”.