Football transfer ticker
National player moves to the second division
Status: 19.07.2023 | Reading time: 3 minutes
Marcel Halstenberg (31) has made nine appearances for the national team since 2017
Quelle: dpa/Jan Woitas
Marcel Halstenberg moves to the second division. The Leipzig defender is drawn back home for personal reasons. And: Luis Suarez could follow Lionel Messi to Inter Miami in the USA. All transfer news in the live ticker.
National soccer player Marcel Halstenberg is moving from Champions League participant RB Leipzig to second division side Hannover 96. Both clubs announced this on Wednesday evening. The 31-year-old defender has signed a two-year contract with his hometown club.
“For me, the famous phrase is actually true: I really slept in 96 sheets as a little boy,” said Halstenberg. “I spent almost my entire youth at Hannover 96 and my family and friends are firmly rooted here. I always had a great desire to play for my home club again in my career. It makes me very happy to have this opportunity now.”
In order to make the transfer, Halstenberg had to accept massive salary cuts and RB Leipzig had to accept a transfer fee well below market value. According to information from the “Neue Presse” in Hanover, it is around 700,000 euros. The nine-time national player had informed his long-standing club weeks ago that he absolutely wanted to return to Hanover for personal reasons.
Halstenberg was born in the neighboring town of Laatzen and played in the youth department and in the second team of Lower Saxony until 2011. He moved to Leipzig in 2015 via Borussia Dortmund II and FC St. Pauli.
Suarez could follow Messi to Miami
At Inter Miami, Lionel Messi’s new club, the next former FC Barcelona player could serve. According to information from the Spanish newspaper “Marca”, Messi’s former colleague Luis Suarez is about to move to the USA. “If he’s allowed to leave Gremio, we want him,” said Miami club president Jorge Mas. 36-year-old Suarez is still under contract at Gremio Porto Alegre.
Luis Suarez
Quelle: pa/ZUMAPRESS.com/Richard Ducker
After being acquitted, Mendy moves to France
After his acquittal in the trial of a rape allegation and the allegation of attempted rape, Benjamin Mendy has found a new club. The former Manchester City player has signed a two-year contract with French top flight club Lorient until 2025.
The 28-year-old French international Mendy was only acquitted in London last Friday in a highly publicized case. He was accused of raping a 29-year-old woman at his Cheshire estate in October 2018. According to the indictment, the attempted rape of a 24-year-old also happened there two years later.
Benjamin Mendy
Credit: AFP/DARREN STAPLES
He had previously been acquitted of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault in a separate trial. At the time, however, the jury could not agree on a decision on the two most recently renegotiated allegations.
Stuttgart lends strikers
VfB Stuttgart will not be relying on striker Wahid Faghir in the coming season either. The Swabians lend the 19-year-old Dane to second division promoted SV Elversberg for a year. The offensive player, whose contract with VfB runs until 2026, had not traveled to the Stuttgart training camp in Austria.
VfB Faghir also lent out last season. The attacker played for the Danish first division club FC Nordsjaelland. He has made six appearances for VfB in the Bundesliga and once in the DFB Cup.
