After the frustrating start to the second half of the season, VfB Stuttgart are clinging to Sasa Kalajdzic’s completed and Silas’ imminent comeback. Winter transfers are likely – new arrivals not.
After an hour, the Fürth defenders were not yet redeemed: Sasa Kalajdzic just kept playing and rooting on Saturday night, 141 days after his last Bundesliga appearance. “After 60 minutes the coach asked me if I could still and I said ‘yes’,” the long Austrian reported afterwards. “I wanted to and I could somehow.”
In the end, he remained hapless like everyone else at VfB Stuttgart, who started the second half of the season with a frustrating 0-0 draw at the Bundesliga bottom side. “I tried everything, but now I feel my whole body,” Kalajdzic said. “I’m exhausted. “
Matarazzo on Kalajdzic: “He didn’t go a few ways either “
How he lasted so long in the first place? “It wasn’t the most intense game for him, a few ways he didn’t go either,” explained coach Pellegrino Matarazzo. “That’s why he was able to last the 90 minutes.”
Because he “did the VfB game good again” (Matarazzo) and was “enormously important as a target player” (Sven Mislintat), returnee Kalajdzic was one of the few Stuttgart bright spots at the 2022 opener. Otherwise, as so often this season, the only thing left was a hopeful look into the near future: some players “simply need one or two more games”, said sports director Mislintat. “That’s a natural process. “
After Mateo Klimowicz and Konstantinos Mavropanos, Silas and Naouirou Ahamada could now also leave their quarantine. Daniel Didavi was absent in Fürth because he had contact with a Corona-positive person, but is not in an officially required quarantine, according to club information. Mislintat speaks of a “purely precautionary measure” and hopes “that he has not contracted the disease”.
“Three, four players in talks” – Egloff, Millot and Ahamada “will stay for sure “
In the winter transfer market, however, VfB fans should not expect any new glimmers of hope for the second half of the season, which seems to hold a tough relegation battle in store. Mislintat only hinted at departures on Sunday.
“It is certainly the case that there are three or four players who are in talks,” he said, referring to replacements such as Philipp Klement. “It can happen that one or the other goes out on loan or even permanently.” Youngsters Lilian Egloff, Enzo Millot and Ahamada, on the other hand, would “stay here for sure. “
On the other hand, nothing is likely to happen – partly because of economic constraints. “We have perceived new additions every week,” Mislintat finds. “Next week Silas should also join us. That’s enough newcomers. “
