Two days after dramatically securing their 2. Bundesliga status, 1. FC Nürnberg have given official send-offs to seven out-of-contract players.
At a low-key ceremony at their training ground on Sunday, the club handed momentos to Philip Heise, Felix Dornebusch, Mikael Ishak, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Patrick Erras and Michael Frey (pictured above). A seventh, Sebastian Kerk, was not present.
As is the way though this summer, the future of all the players is unclear and some could remain at the club, who confirmed they remain in talks “with one or the other player.”
It was thought this would include Ishak and Erras, whose futures which had been in doubt could have been positively impacted by the recent coaching changes. However B*ld report on Monday evening that Ishak is set to join Polish side Lech Poznan, whilst Erras has been linked with a move to Werder Bremen.
A return for goalkeeper Dornebusch is not out of the question either, but Sebastian Kerk, who was left out of the squad for the play-off games against Ingolstadt, clearly has no future in Franconia.
The three loan players are unlikely to return as well. Heise and Frey made diminishing returns for Der Club and should therefore return to Norwich City and Fenerbahce respectively.
Mavropanos, signed on loan from Arsenal in the winter, did impress but appears set to join a Bundesliga, with Greek media (via Kicker) reporting that he is already undergoing a medical with promoted VfB Stuttgart.
2liga.net 