Birmingham City’s Marvin Ducksch deal stuns Germany, Nagelsmann called him ‘crazy’

Add as preferred source on Google

As things stand, Birmingham City can boast the joint-most expensive signing made by any Championship club this summer in the shape of former Celtic sensation Kyogo Furuhashi.

Ambitious, American-backed Birmingham rescued Kyogo from his Rennes misery with a £10 million deal earlier in the window. Only Ipswich Town’s signing of Azor Matusiwa – ironically, a teammate of Kyogo’s at Roazhon Park – can match the Japan international’s St Andrews switch in financial terms.

But if the Blues can claim ownership of the joint-most expensive signing of the summer, could last season’s League One champions follow that up with the best value addition anywhere in England’s second tier?

Birmingham have missed out to Ipswich for Chuba Akpom, it seems. Middlesbrough’s 2023 Golden Boot-winner could, ironically enough, make his Tractor Boys debut against Chris Davies’ side during Friday’s curtain raiser.

But with Werder Bremen talisman Marvin Ducksch now reportedly on his way to the Midlands, Birmingham City could yet have the last laugh.

German press stunned as Birmingham City near Marvin Ducksch deal with Werder Bremen

Werder Bremen confirmed, via their official website, that the one-time Borussia Dortmund hopeful had been excused from training on Wednesday.

He was given permission to travel to England, with medical checks and a contract signing to come. It is believed that Ducksch will set the Blues back just £1.7 million, meanwhile.

Considering his impressive returns in one of Europe’s top-five leagues – Ducksch tallied 28 goals and 23 assists combined across the last three Bundesliga campaigns, an average of 17 goal contributions per season – German publication Bild have understandably responded to his imminent switch to St Andrews by asking whether Werder Bremen have been ‘ripped off’.

“Why does Werder allow themselves to be fobbed off with a meagre transfer fee?,” the paper wonders.

The answer, Bild suggest, is a two-pronged one.

Ducksch has just one year left on his contract, after all, and feels that the time is right for a fresh start. So, with only 12 months remaining and at the age of 31, Werder do have a good reason to accept a substantial reduction on last summer’s £6.5 million price-tag.

Bild add that there is no obvious place in recently-appointed manager Horst Steffen’s 4-3-3 formation either. His predecessor at the Weser Stadium – new RB Leipzig coach Ole Werner – preferred a 3-5-2 system with Ducksch often operating in a roving role behind the hard-running Oliver Burke.

Considering that Chris Davies usually sets Birmingham up in a 4-3-3, it remains to be seen if he can find a way to accommodate a mercurial attacker who picked up his first two caps for Germany under Julian Nagelsmann in 2023.

Julian Nagelsmann gave ‘special’ Marvin Ducksch his Germany chance

Presuming Ducksch does adapt well to life in England and Birmingham, though, that two million euro transfer fee could prove to be one of the bargains of the entire window.

A reliable source of goals and assists, plus an excellent set-piece taker to boot, Bundesliga expert Kevin Hatchard cannot speak highly enough of Ducksch.

“Ducksch to Birmingham City is a great pick-up,” Hatchard writes on X. “Experienced striker who takes a quality set-piece, and played superbly alongside [Germany targetman Niclas] Fullkrug at Werder Bremen.

“Experienced and technically gifted. Certainly worth having as a depth option, if not a starter.”

Impressively, the late-blooming former Hannover and Fortuna Dusseldorf attacker has outperformed his ‘Expected Goals’ tally in three of his last four seasons in the Bundesliga.

“Marvin Ducksch stands for special moments. He simply has a nose for it and sometimes does things that involve a lot of risk and that not everyone would do on the pitch,” Werner said of his former star man with a penchant for the spectacular

“A street footballer.”

“He didn’t have an easy start at Werder, but he’s now back to a very good scoring record,” Nagelsmann agreed on the back of a long-awaited first ever national team call-up.

“He takes very good set pieces and has a good finish, [and brings] a good degree of craziness which we need, especially when players come off the bench. That can be very, very valuable.”