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As part of our season preview, we will be profiling all 18 clubs in the Bundesliga, and how we think they will fair during the coming season. Today, we will be focusing on Hannover 96.
LAST SEASON
Hannover 96 are back in the highest German football league after just one season in the 2.Budesliga. As expected, both Stuttgart and Hannover finished in the top two places in the table to secure promotion. Nevertheless the road back to the Bundesliga wasn’t as smooth as they would have liked.
Just like Stuttgart, Hannover changed coaches during the season when they sacked Daniel Stendel and replaced him with André Breitenreiter. The former Schalke coach took over 9 games before the end of the season and in hindsight it was probably the right move seeing that they did not lose during that 9-game spell with 6 victories and 3 draws. In the end they finished in second place behind VfB Stuttgart.
TRANSFER SUMMARY
Transfers in:
- Julian Korb - 3€ million
- Michael Esser - 2€ million
- Pirmin Schwegler - Free transfer
- Matthias Ostrzolek - Free transfer
- Tom Taller - Free transfer
- Yousef Emghames - Free transfer
Transfers out:
- Andre Hoffmann - 0.25€ million
- Mevlüt Erdinc - Free transfer
- Artur Sobiech - Free transfer
- Elias Huth - Loan
- Fabian Senninger - Loan
- Babacar Gueye - Loan
The good thing is that Hannover did not lose any important player during this window. The core that secured them a place back in the Bundesliga is still intact.
On the other hand the acquisitions are a bit uninspired. Schwegler is probably the best transfer they made. Getting a solid Bundesliga veteran for free is always good business for a newly promoted team. You could say the same thing about Ostrzolek but his performances in Hamburg were very disappointing and at this point he’s a bit of a reclamation project. Esser will be their new starting goalkeeper and Julian Korb is an upgrade at right back for Hannover.
OUTLOOK
It will be a tough season for Hannover. They are certainly a better team then both Ingolstadt or Darmstadt who they essentially replaced but they still have to be considered one of the inferior teams in terms of talent. The good thing is that they are aware of that fact, nobody expects them to do wonders and they know that it will be a battle to stay up for the entire season.
The near future will be all about staying up in the Bundesliga. In the long run Martin Kind will look to establish the club as a team that can compete for the international places and the fact that they toppled the 50+1 rule might help them with it.
PREDICTION: 16th Place
Hannover will battle relegation from the first minute until the last. They have a very thin squad that won’t allow any dips in form from their starters or forgive any injuries. Even if Hannover can avoid both of those things André Breitenreiter will have his hands full trying to stay away from the relegation zone.