A Deeper Look into Jorg Schmadtke’s Transfer History

Liverpool look set to appoint Jorg Schmadtke as the club’s new Sporting Director when Julian Ward leaves the club at the end of the season.

It’s safe to say that the upcoming summer transfer window is huge for the Reds as they look to rebuild their squad and look to get back to competing for trophies, so this appointment crucially needs to be the right fit.

In this article we’re going to take a deeper look into how the German has performed in the transfer market at his former clubs such as Wolfsburg, Koln and Hannover.

VFL Wolfsburg:

When looking at his transfer business at Wolfsburg, there was very little to get excited by in all honesty.

Obviously, the budget at his past clubs have been nowhere near what he is expected to get to work with at Liverpool, but when he has identified higher valued targets, they often haven’t worked out.

His most expensive signings in recent years have included the likes of Jakub Kaminski (£10m), Sebastiaan Bornauw (£13m), Jonas Wind (£12m) and Luka Walschmidt (£12m) – almost all have drastically lost market value according to Transfermarkt.

However, there were a few promising signings during his time at Wolfsburg with the likes of Mattis Svanberg, Ridle Baku, Lukas Nmecha, Felix Nmecha and Maxence Lacroix all for relatively cheap fees.

In terms of performance on the pitch though, under Schmadtke’s reign the club has become much more consistent compared to when the German was appointed.

When appointed back in 2018, Wolfsburg had just come off the back of back-to-back 16th place finishes in the Bundesliga.

Since then, the club have finished 6th, 7th, 4th, 12th and 6th, leaving them often playing European football.

FC Koln:

Schmadtke also spent four years at FC Koln prior to his move to Wolfsburg, leading them to a string of incredible league seasons whilst at the club.

In his first season, Koln won the German Second Tier to get promotion back to the Bundesliga.

Following on from that promotion, they achieved astonishing 12th, 9th and 5th place finishes in the top tier.

But the information that most Liverpool fans will be intrigued by is his performance in the transfer market.

The most notable signings during that period would be the likes of Serhou Guirassy, Neven Subotic, Anthony Modeste and Yannick Gerhardt.

Summary:

In summary, it’s obvious to notice that Schmadtke is quite adapt at working on a tight budget and has never really worked in a resource-rich environment like Liverpool.

He does however, love to buy young players and sell them on for a large profit which has been at the centre of Liverpool’s recruitment strategy over recent years, particularly under the Stewardship of Michael Edwards.

Schmadtke is a traditional figure in modern football, so I wouldn’t be expecting him to produce a revolutionary strategy but I do think it’s safe to say that the club is in safe hands with himself and Jurgen Klopp.