Hungry Wolves
July 22, 2007
Last season was barely over, when Wolfsburg commenced their latest and largest rebuilding program.
After finishing fifteenth -- one place away from relegation -- for the second straight year, the Volkswagen-sponsored club immediately fired coach Klaus Augenthaler. On May 30, former Stuttgart and Bayern skipper Felix Magath took over.
To signal a new era, Magath was named not just coach, but also sporting director. And he's gotten plenty of fresh talent to work with -- some of it poached from the Wolves' Bundesliga rivals.
One victim was Cottbus. Wolfsburg bought both of the small East German club's top scorers from last season -- Romanians Vlad Munteanu and Sergiu Radu.
They joined Ashkan Dejagah, a talented young midfielder already lured away from Hertha Berlin with a near million-euro contract in the second half of last season.
The Wolves have also been on the prowl internationally, bagging Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko and Portugese national defender Ricardo Costa.
And on Wednesday, the club announced it was loaning midfielder Christian Gentner from champions Stuttgart for a year.
The future is now
Wolfsburg has spent more than 10 million euros ($13.8 million) on transfers -- a pittance compared with Bayern's shop-til-you-drop summer binge, but a huge investment for a club without a history of success or a national fan base.
Magath has proved a winner in the past, and many soccer pundits are speculating that the Wolves could join the ranks of the Bundesliga's alpha males in 2007-8.
Their defense, already solid last year, has been reinforced, while the new midfielders could link up well with star playmaker Marcelinho and talented Jacek Krzynowek. More importantly, the Wolves have infused some new blood into their attack, which was absolutely anemic in 2006-7.
But there are dangers in trying to turn a team around from one season to the next instead of slowly building a squad.
Magath's starting eleven will likely feature players who have never worked together before, and it's unclear who will be their leader on the pitch. Moreover, Wolfsburg have been burned by star signings in the past.
In 2003, the Wolves also bid to escape mediocrity by splashing out for playmaker Andrés D'Alessandro. But the big bucks bought a big ego, and the oft-injured Argentine abandoned Wolfsburg after two-and-a-half seasons, having scored only eight goals.
Wolfsburg went on to finish fifteenth. If this season's new additions don't pan out, the Wolves could find themselves once again howling at the moon -- at the back of the pack.