In this series we highlight the biggest "misunderstandings", in the form of bad purchases of selected, Austrian Bundesliga clubs in the last ten years. Which legionaries fulfilled.
In this series we highlight the biggest "misunderstandings", in the form of bad purchases of selected, Austrian Bundesliga clubs in the last ten years. Which legionnaires did not meet the expectations placed in them? Who were the expensive flops?
The next parts will be about the Viennese Austria, which has had many bad purchases from abroad in the last ten years. In the second part about the violets, we again dug up some classic "misunderstandings".
Abdul Mohammed Kadiri
In the fall of 2016, Austria brought Ghanaian center back Abdul Mohammed Kadiri directly from Ghana and slowly introduced him to the first team. In his second season, the 186cm tall defensive player then largely advanced to the regular player of the violets. However, the Ghanaian’s performance and especially his stability were not satisfactory and the next few seasons showed that Kadiri was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time at Austria. The Viennese loaned the now 25-year-old to Arsenal Tula in Russia, where he also became a regular player. Even when he moved permanently to Dynamo Kiev a year later, he was always close to the first team. This was followed by another year on loan in Tula and a move to Chernomorets Odessa, back in the Ukrainian league, last summer. If Kadiri had not been repeatedly set back by injuries in the last few years – especially in Kiev – he would probably have been able to make even greater leaps. It is clear, however, that he was more dominant and confident at all his other stations than in Vienna-Favoriten.
Ibrahim Alhassan Abdullahi
In the summer of 2017, Franz Wohlfahrt originally wanted a striker and suddenly the 192cm tall Nigerian Ibrahim Alhassan was on the doorstep. But he was actually a six/eight hybrid and thus not at all what Austria was actually looking for. The curiosity Abdullahi lasted only one year resp. 26 compulsory games. The Nigerian scored two goals, one of them in the Cup against Rapid. After the end of the loan deal with the Nigerian club Akwa United, it was clear that the services of the 24-year-old would no longer be needed. Alhassan moved to Portugal to CD Nacional de Madeira and is there – currently in the second league – a regular player. In total he played 61 games for the islanders.
Jin-hyun Lee
Korean midfielder Jin-hyun Lee was also one of the "exotics" they wanted to try out at Austria. But already after one year they drew a line again. For the winner of the Asian Games 2014 and two-time South Korean international, Austria was the only European engagement until today. 18 competitive games played the eighth in the 2017/18 season for the violets. Lee then returned to his homeland, playing for the Pohang Steelers, Daegu FC and, since last January, for the second-division Daejeon Hana Citizen.
Heiko Westermann
Considering that HSV legend Heiko Westermann played 27 international matches for Germany, his engagement in Vienna-Favoriten was probably one of the biggest flops in the club’s history. From July to November 2017, Westermann played 19 games for the Viennese and was largely conspicuous with hair-raising mistakes. After that, the once leg-hardened defender suffered cartilage damage in his knee and put an end to his career six months later.