Bochum confirm signing of former academy keeper
VfL Bochum confirmed the signing of keeper Niclas Thiede, who will be returning to the Revierklub for the third time, early Tuesday evening.
SC Verl keeper Niclas Thiede will be heading back to the club he first represented as a nine-year-old youth once again. The 24-year-old net-minder - a Hagen-native - began his footballing career in the VfL academy before stints at the Hagen, Iserlohn, Dortmund, and Rot-Weiß Essen academies. He then spent three years with Bochum again before transferring to Freiburg.
Thiede has one Bundesliga appearance (for Freiburg in 2019) to his credit. He did tend goal for SCF II during their promotion campaign up to Germany's third-tier footballing flight in 2020/21. He then spent some time with SC Verl before moving to the 3. Liga club on a permanent basis in 2022. He's made a total of 56 appearances for Verl in the third division.
"We are delighted that Niclas Thiede has decided to return to his old stomping grounds," VfL technical director Marc Lettau noted in a statement accompanying the signing, "He has received top training as a goalkeeper here in Bochum as well as in Freiburg. Niclas will be competing in our goalkeeping ranks."
The player himself expressed enthusiasm at returning and being reunited with one of his former goalkeeping coaches, Peter Greiber. Bochum's regular #1 Manuel Riemann is now 34-years-of-age. Back-ups Michael Esser and Paul Grave have had injury problems this season. Swedish net-minder Marko Johansson is due back at Hamburger SV after his loan spell expires at the end of the current season.
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— VfL Bochum 1848 (@VfLBochum1848eV) May 9, 2023