As a Cologne fan, pains me to say that Leverkusen, Düsseldorf, and Borussia Mönchengladbach all had a good to season last year and really positive offseason so far. Gladbach finished 5th and qualified directly for the Europa League. For some, even this success feels a little disappointing after a strong start (including a convincing 3:0 against Bayern). Even though, manager Eberl decided to change coaches and now highly-sought after Rose holds the reins instead of experienced Hecking. (As I’ve heard Borussia fans refer to Hecking as “Durchschnitts-Dieter – or “Average Dieter” – this might even make some sense.)

In terms of transfers, there is one painful loss: Thorgan “Kleiner Bruder” Hazard will play for the other Borussia in Dortmund next season. With him, Gladbach is losing the most minutes played behind keeper Sommer, 10 goals, and 10 (team-leading) assists. He was Gladbach’s best player last year and will be tough to replace. (Drmic also leaves, but he didn’t really play a crucial role). On the plus side, they added Laimer (right back), Embolo (striker), and Marcus Thuram (left wing). That’s really impressive. Lainer is pretty much a “sure thing” and well-known for new coach Rose as both come from RB Salzburg. Embolo (after several significant injuries) and Thuram (from french 2nd league) are higher risks, but are both still very young (22 and 21, respectively) and have great upside. I really like these transfers, especially Embolo offers a physicality that sometimes was missing for Gladbach last season.

Gladbach’s depth is solid, they will be well prepared for the Europa League grind: Lang, Strobl, Jantschke, Herrmann, Johnson, Embolo, Thuram, maybe Raffael would be great alternatives in all areas of the pitch. I’ll be curious who’ll actually play on the wing instead of Hazard. I slotted in Hofmann (who is a winger originally), but he played mostly as an 8 last season. Of course this assumes that Rose sticks with the 4-1-4-1 / 4-3-3 that Hecking played last year. Anyway, I think Gladbach will again be very strong and a threat for the CL places, but will just fall short this season.

Title odds: 81:1

Relegation odds: 21:1

Final expected finish: 5

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