Kicker Report: Drewes now a leading figure in Stuttgart goalkeeper search
Germany's preeminent footballing publication reports that VfB Stuttgart are eyeing a budget solution in their search for a new goalkeeper.
It having long been common knowledge that VfB Stuttgart are in the market for a goalkeeping upgrade - irrespective of which division they play in next season - Germany's Kicker Magazine published an update on the club's search in its Monday print edition. Kicker reported that neither Fabian Bredlow nor Florian Müller are considered viable options for the team's future some months back.
Kicker's Stuttgart correspondent George Moissidis writes that Fabian Wohlgemuth and the VfB administrative consider Swiss keeper Philipp Köhn of RB Salzburg - once linked with Bayer 04 Leverkusen - to be far too expensive an option. Furthermore, the front office has little interest in signing out-of-contact free-agent Rafal Gikiewicz despite the fact that the player's agent contracted them.
The trail now leads to veteran journeyman Patrick Drewes, who most recently tended goal for relegated 2. Bundesliga side SV Sandhausen. The 30-year-old former VfL Wolfsburg academy man is generally thought to be an attractive pull on a free transfer after his contract with Sandhausen expired.
Several 2. Bundesliga sides are also thought to be interested in Drewes. The Delemhorst-native has never made a Bundesliga appearance, though he did feature in many Wolfsburg matchday squads between 2012 and 2015. Drewes kept three of Sandhausen's four league clean sheets in the 2022/23 2. Bundesliga campaign.