Overview of 41 professionals
©IMAGO
A total of 80 players are currently on loan from one of the 18 Bundesliga clubs, with 41 around half of them abroad. In most cases, these professionals should gain match practice in order to be an option for the parent club again next year. But does it work? Transfermarkt has taken a look at the database and takes stock of the Bundesliga loan players.
With Bryan Zaragoza (23; CA Osasuna) and Lovro Zvonarek (19; SK Sturm Graz), FC Bayern only gave away two of nine loaned professionals to a foreign club. Zaragoza went back to Spain after a disappointing second half of the 2023/24 season and was able to convince recently after initial difficulties. In addition to a goal in the 4-2 win over Hansi Flick and FC Barcelona at the end of September, he scored five goals for his teammates. Only Raphinha (8), Lamine Yamal and Vinicius Junior (6 each) have more assists in LaLiga. Nevertheless, Zaragoza’s future with the German record champions is uncertain.
Zvonarek doesn’t quite come close to this record, swings between the bench and starting eleven for Sturm Graz and has two goals and one assist in 15 appearances, including three in the Champions League. In the Austrian Bundesliga, another Bundesliga professional steals the show: Dion Beljo. The 22-year-old striker is on loan from FC Augsburg to SK Rapid Vienna and is in a goal-scoring mood there. Across all competitions, eleven goals in 22 appearances are the top score for the Rapid team, who are only three points behind the top of the table.
Beljo has already topped his tally from 45 games for Augsburg, in which he only scored five goals. It is unclear whether he will have the chance to improve this record next year. Rapid has a purchase option which, according to transfer market information, is well below the 7 million to 9 million euros rumored in the summer.
No Bundesliga player abroad who has been on loan since the summer comes close to Beljo’s eleven goals. Behind them is Ben Bobzien (21; loaned to Austria Klagenfurt from 1. FSV Mainz 05) with seven goals, Juan José Perea (24; from VfB Stuttgart to FC Zurich) and Vaclav Cerny (27; from VfL Wolfsburg to the Glasgow Rangers) follow with six each.
Most valuable Bundesliga loan professionals abroad are rather pale: Haller still without a goal
While the loan is working out for the players mentioned so far, it is primarily the most valuable professionals who have not yet reached their top level. Odilon Kossounou (23), the most valuable Bundesliga loan player with a market value of 30 million euros, only made four appearances over 237 minutes at Atalanta Bergamo due to a hamstring injury. The further development is definitely important for parent club Bayer 04 Leverkusen, as a purchase option worth 25 million euros could be exercised.
Youssoufa Moukoko is certainly efficient at OGC Nice in terms of the pure statistics of two goals and two assists in 367 minutes, but three of these scorers come from the 8-0 win against AS Saint-Étienne. Afterwards, the former top talent from Borussia Dortmund had to sit on the bench again and was recently unused against AS Monaco.
Another attacker who was given up by BVB in the summer is also in a difficult situation: Sébastien Haller is mostly used at CD Leganés, but is still waiting for his first goal in seven games. In the LaLiga market value update, he went down from 10 million to 7.5 million euros; he was last valued lower in 2016 at FC Utrecht, before his time at Eintracht Frankfurt. RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner has a goal and an assist at Tottenham Hotspur, but has also fallen short of expectations so far.
Eintracht Frankfurt has the most professionals abroad with six players. Jens Petter Hauge, who has been under contract with FK Bodø/Glimt since January and has since scored ten goals and nine assists, is likely to stay in Norway with a purchase option. The same applies to the mostly seeded Aurélio Buta (Stade Reims), Hrvoje Smolcic (LASK) and Nacho Ferri (KV Kortrijk). Faride Alidou (Hellas Verona) also has such an option, but after 65 minutes of action and no goal involvement, Frankfurt is currently expected to return. Paxten Aaronson is a starter at FC Utrecht and scored two goals and one assist in eleven appearances. It is not known whether there is a purchase option.
