Winter transfer: Budu Zivzivadze to 1. FC Heidenheim

The last winter transfer that 1.FC Heidenheim completed could be included in a textbook for winter transfers. The personnel from January 30, 2021 contained everything that can be learned about player changes in the winter: In almost every respect, the Heidenheimers did a good job back then – because they released a player, initially on loan, from an unfortunate stay in a foreign league, and they do so with the certainty that they could make that player as happy as the player made them.

After six months in Gent, Belgium, striker Tim Kleindienst returned to the Ostalb, where he had already played for two years. In Belgium they hardly let Kleindienst play, which is why, back in Heidenheim, he missed out on eleven goals in the second half of the season out of sheer luck. In the summer of 2021, the loan was converted into a purchase, and Kleindienst remained. And scored one goal after another. And was promoted to the first Bundesliga with Heidenheim. And scored there too. And he became a German national player, not without first moving to Borussia Mönchengladbach and bringing his Heidenheim team a basic fee of eight million euros.

It can be said that the Heidenheimers are undefeated in the winter transfer periods of the last few years. They made one winter transfer and it was a hit. This aspect is also part of the success story of the Heidenheimers, who not only did a lot of what they did right. It was often right when she… nothing have made. They never took part in the winter transfers, which were sometimes carried out in a hectic manner by the other 35 German first and second division teams, perhaps because people on the Ostalb are busy shoveling snow in winter. But perhaps also because winter transfers often correct misjudgments from the summer. And the Heidenheimers had a hit rate with their summer transfers that was not dissimilar to the hit rate of striker Kleindienst. Misjudgments? That was a discipline for the others.

The current winter transfer window has only been open for a few days, and strangely enough, the first reports are coming from Heidenheim. On Friday the news came that the Georgian second division top scorer from Karlsruher SC, Budu Zivzivadze, 30, was joining 1.FC Heidenheim, as was left-back Frans Krätzig, 21, who FC Bayern had previously loaned out to VfB Stuttgart. There, however, the technically knowledgeable but not very athletic young man was found to be too light, which could now end in a strange experiment – that of sending Krätzig, like Paul Wanner, 19, who also belongs to FC Bayern, to the Ostalb, where athletics Play is a basic requirement.

Letting the three best players go, plus the double burden: That was perhaps a bit too much

But the early Heidenheim convulsions at the unfamiliar winter market are more than just a nice footnote. If you look at the history of this club, you could come to the conclusion that 1.FC Heidenheim is now in a place where it has long been suspected: on the border. On the natural edge of a site that has become much larger than the system ever intended – thanks to local sponsors and the work of many good hands who otherwise shovel snow into April. How often have all the people of Heidenheim heard sentences like this: compliments on promotion, but you won’t stay in the third division for long! Respect that you made it to the second league, but you know that maybe Ulm belongs there, but not you! Oh, and enjoy your one year in the first league before you get relegated again as bottom of the table!

It is the history of this club, the CEO Holger Sanwald and the coach Frank Schmidt, that they have always exceeded all the boundaries that they themselves never defined. That’s why the unusual winter activities may now mark a point in the club’s history. Letting the three best players go (Tim Kleindienst, Jan-Niklas Beste, Eren Dinkci), double burden from the Bundesliga and Conference League, the treacherous second first league year, no expensive additions – that was perhaps a bit too much this season. This could be it now, the border. Which wouldn’t be a shame – but it has led to a change in the club’s policy and is also like admitting that, for once, they misjudged their transfer policy a little in the summer.

It was probably too much to ask of the 19-year-old Wanner to carry the entire offensive game; asking too much of 26-year-old globetrotter Leo Scienza to replace Niklas Beste; It’s asking too much of the in-house striker Marvin Pieringer to no longer be Kleindienst’s side-man, but the new Kleindienst. From now on, Pieringer can be the next man again, now from winter signing Zivzivadze, who shot the KSC to second place in the second division with twelve goals.

Four points behind 15th place in the table, 1.FC Heidenheim is in a relegation battle that could be as tough as the winter on the Ostalb. Ambitious as they are in Heidenheim, this annoys them terribly, but realistic as they are, it doesn’t surprise them either. You were one of them alongside Bayer Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart Overperformer the previous season, but they have always known that they are not a natural eighth seed in the Bundesliga. And so they will also bear the further speculation from the winter transfer market with composure – for example that Jan-Niklas Beste is just as unhappy at Benfica Lisbon as Tim Kleindienst was back in Belgium. But of course the best will no longer move to Heidenheim, but perhaps to England or to Leipzig or to VfB Stuttgart.