This is post five of a wider series. A series for FM24.
“The overperformance the Italian has achieved is less akin to rabbits and hats and more like catching a bullet while being sawn in half after making the Statue of Liberty disappear.”
In-game date: 25 January 2026
A reference was made in a recent post to the possibility of Enzo Scutari “pulling another rabbit out of the hat” after back to back promotions from 3.Liga to the Bundesliga in his first two years in charge at Viktoria Köln.
The sporting progress of the club being conjured up while being able to spend no money on transfers with the club perched on the edge of administration the entire time, while employing a small squad of players who could very fairly be assessed to be of adequate quality to compete halfway down Germany’s third tier, but no better, has been astonishing.
It’s late January 2026, there are fifteen league games left of season three and the overperformance the Italian has achieved is less akin to rabbits and hats and more like catching a bullet while being sawn in half after making the Statue of Liberty disappear.
The sky is overcast and a light rain settles on the roof of the stands of the new Viktoria Köln Stadium. Scutari is on the pitch, uncharacteristically casual in dress, wearing the Tony Pulis-style club tracksuit and baseball cap combination. It’s a typical training session and Assistant Manager Edgar Davids is pinging lofted passes towards the strikers, three of whom are six foot four or taller, who all compete to be first to the ball. ‘La Tigre’ Lobinger in this case is the winner, chesting the ball down before firing it past a soaked and unhappy Lennart Grill who decides to stay prone on the immaculately fresh grass, much to the delight of his laughing teammates.
“How did we get here?” Scutari muses aloud, clearly referring to fifth place in the Bundesliga. Serious vertigo territory for a club of this size. He hasn’t realised that club captain Moritz Fritz is just within earshot. Now 32 years of age and having notched up 83 appearances for his manager (over 170 for the club in total) since their original conflict when they first met, the two now share a tight bond.
“Perseverence, boss.” Fritz says, as he playfully slaps his gaffer in the back. He may have been relegated to the bench since the arrival of Argentine unit Lisandro Magallán and entering the final six months of his deal, but the Viktoria Köln captain has achieved heights of success with his manager that were unfathomable just two and a half years ago.
Enzo Scutari smiles and heads down the tunnel towards his freshly-furnished office in the new Viktoria Köln Stadium. The January 2026 transfer window is closing shortly, and he might just have some (more) work to do…
This journey just gets better and better.
In the close season before the 2025-2026 campaign, Viktoria Köln’s first in the top flight of German football, we previously reported that while the club were starting to turn fortunes around financially at the level the accountants and tax office focus on, there was still no budget for transfer sums. That remains the case, even today. Enzo Scutari still hasn’t spent a penny on incoming transfer fees (11 inbound moves) and has generated £950k from player sales (15 outbound exits).
New goalkeeper Lennart Grill signed on a free transfer as a fairly solid first-choice goalkeeper, and six foot three winger Aurel Wagbe arrived on loan from SC Paderborn to try and give us some pace and presence on the wing. Those were the only two signings possible, given our financial position.
The season started with back to back defeats away at Hamburg and at home against RB Leipzig, but then the team somehow found their creativity and resilience and a 3-2 victory over Borussia Mönchengladbach sent them on their way to a 16 game unbeaten run. This included two historic victories that would be released as DVD specials in the club shop in time for Christmas if this was the year 2000. I’d buy it.
Now that we are in the Bundesliga, we can remind ourselves of the financial gulf between Viktoria Köln and seemingly everybody else in German football.
September 2025 rolled around and our fortunes continued to move in a positive direction. Enzo Scutari approached the board for some funds to improve the threadbare squad. Although the wage request was accepted, boosting the weekly budget from £130,00 to £183,000, the “bigger transfer budget” amounted to a lowly £40k, which was immediately converted into a marginal further wage budget improvement.
Free agents and loans continue to be the only way forward.
After this disappointment, star striker Borja Bastón announced his homesickness since arriving in the summer, and was given a leave of absence for 2-3 months to allow him to readjust. Unfortunately when he returned, his heart was still not in it and he got his wish and signed for Tenerife for £275,000. He bagged 18 goals in 47 appearances for The Viktorians before moving home.
This left a significant gap in a side who religiously field two strikers. The loan market was bare, with clubs unwilling to let their finest youth prospects join us for six months without a substantial fee. The free agent market was desolate too, until a deal was struck which shook the football world…
The legendary Bosnian hitman joined Viktoria Köln as a free agent on a six-month deal for his final act in professional football. Now 39-years old, Edin Džeko fittingly dons the number 39 shirt. He so far has six goals in 10 appearances and is an incredibly positive role model for every player at the club. He has certainly filled the Borja Bastón-shaped gap in the squad, and then some. His legs may have slowed, but his physical dominance and clever movement have not declined at all.
After Džeko, the improvement in finances allowed a little more flexibility, and a further four players were able to join, meaning there are now a much healthier-looking 23 senior bodies at the club to see out the rest of the season, at least.
Lisandro Magallán has played for clubs such as Boca Juniors and Anderlecht. He even played for Ajax as recently as 2022. Still only 31, Magallán is effectively the new defensive backbone of the side. Angelo Sagal signs after spells in Cyprus and Hungary and gives Viktoria Köln a well-rounded skillset and a tricky left foot.
Muhammad Badamosi is a Gambian international, who at six foot five is an impressive physical powerhouse who works hard and moves well. Playing with two strikers is critical to our deep 4-4-2 system, and when you field a pairing where Edin Džeko is the short one, you know you’ll cause defences problems. He has nine goals in 15 appearances so far. Josef Gottmeier is a promising young playmaker. An excellent passing technique coupled with aggression, a strong work ethic and composure on the ball, Gottmeier could grow to be very important for the club. He just has to toughen up a little physically, and look at 22-year teammate and midfield rival Florian Engelhardt for inspiration on how to spot when best to make those threaded through-balls.
As per the graphic above, the squad is looking quite healthy for the first time since this story began. That said, the player quality level needs to incrementally improve if we are to continue to compete in the Bundesliga. We also need to continue paying off this significant debt for the new stadium.
Enzo Scutari’s luck surely can’t last forever.
Next time we’ll cover how the 2025-2026 Bundesliga season finished and what might be in store after that.
Thanks for reading.
FM Stag