FC Augsburg

The Ecuadorian, who was under contract at Augsburg until 2024, has joined Major League Soccer side San Jose Earthquakes, whose head coach Luchi Gonzalez was also at the helm during Gruezo’s spell with FC Dallas. The transfer fee is undisclosed.

“We’re coming up against a team that have lots of individual quality. We know what we’re up against, but we believe that we can do the business against Leverkusen,” explained an upbeat Enrico Maaßen in Thursday’s presser. FCA celebrated their first ever Bundesliga win over Friday’s opponents earlier in the season (2-1) but a lot has happened in Leverkusen since then. Since Xabi Alonso took over back in October, the Black and Reds have turned their season around. 

Compared to their last match in Freiburg, head coach Enrico Maaßen made one change to the starting XI. Erin Demirović – Augsburg’s top scorer this season (six) – missed the game due to suspension, and so Fredrik Jensen came into the side in his place.

Rafał Gikiewicz: “It’s just an incredible feeling to get the second home win in a row, both of which have seen us keep clean sheets, and to get a great Friday night victory in front of our fans! It was an immense team performance and our new signings slotted into the squad nicely, bringing lots of quality onto the pitch. To have kept another shutout is especially pleasing, but that’s compliments to the entire defence.” 

“Before the sub the coach said to me on the way that I should just play and not think about it too much. That’s what I did and it was enormously fun!” said Zehnter talking about his first minutes of Bundesliga action.

As well as the vote for ‘Player of the Month’, the German football league (DFL) also carries out a vote for ‘Rookie of the Month‘. The conditions are that the player is young than 23 years old at the start of the season and has collected lots of points on Fantasy Manager, the DFL’s fantasy football game. Adam Hlozek (Bayer 04 Leverkusen) and Karim Adeyemi (Borussia Dortmund) complete the list alongside Engels.

“I am delighted that I have signed my first professional deal with FC Augsburg. I feel really happy to be at this club and I will give my all everyday in order to fulfill my dream of playing for FCA in the Bundesliga. Of course I am aware that there is a lot of hard work still to do, but this club has shown that they are willing to give youngsters a chance,” explained Mert Kömür, who has been playing for the U19s in the Bundesliga Süd/Südwest this season.

“We will travel to Mainz with a very positive feeling,” said head coach Enrico Maaßen, who is pleased with the development of his side: “against Leverkusen we managed to come out on top in a very tight game. Now we also want to get more points against teams from the lower half of the table.” It has been a long and intense week of training for the Red-Green-Whites, in which Maaßen was able to work with a large group of players.

3-1 defeat in Mainz FCA still winless on the road in 2023 FC Augsburg are still...

Maaßen: “We will take a critical look at the game” Post-match reaction to 3-1 defeat in...