Freiburg flop Eren Dinkçi may head to 1. FC Köln on loan

Florian Plettenberg reports that 1. FC Köln are interested in taking SC Freiburg flop Eren Dinkçi on loan. The right winger and his former Heidenheim teammate Jan-Niklas Beste are both struggling to make an impact for Julian Schuster’s Breisgauer this year. Köln have plenty of opportunities on the right-hand-side of attack. Dinckçi could potentially be a perfect fit for die Geißböcke.

Ironically enough, Dinkçi’s final game at Heidenheim (matchday 34 at the end of the 2023/24 campaign) saw him secure a Conference League berth for Heidenheim while eliminating Freiburg from the race for Europe. At the time, Dinkçi was playing on loan for Heidenheim but had already wrapped up a €5m transfer from Werder Bremen to Freiburg for the coming season.

Dinkçi scored a brace in Heideheim’s 4-1 win over his potential future club Köln. The two goals enabled Dinkçi to complete a celebrated 10-goal Bundesliga campaign during which he pumped up his estimated market value from €1m to €12m. Dinkçi joked that he “messed up” by scoring the goals that would leave him unable to compete in Europe for Freiburg next year.

No one could have anticipated that Dinkçi’s goals on that day would be his last tallies in the Bundesliga. Dinkçi recorded four assists in 23 league appearances for Schuster’s SCF last season, but never again found the back of the net. To date, Dinkçi has scored just once for Freiburg in a soft opening round Pokal fixture this year.

Some blamed Dinkçi’s lackluster 2024/25 season on the fact that Ritsu Doan’s presence mostly shifted him from the right flank over to the center. This doesn’t entirely explain Dinkçi’s form dip as he played in the center all the time for his hometown academy club Werder Bremen. The Bremen-native has always been tall and nimble enough to work as a natural No 9. as well.

It appears as if Dinkçi got more comfortable on the right once Heidenheim head coach Schmidt regularly played him there and he didn’t quite take to Schuster’s often very tight 4-2-3-1 tactical constellations. Doan’s departure this summer accorded Dinkçi a chance to return to the right this year but, the the now 24-year-old (along with the rest off the team) got off to a torrid start with league losses against Augsburg and Köln.

After that, a hip injury combined with the competitive situation on Schuster’s squad has left Dinkçi without much of a chance at the Schwarzwaldverein. More promising prospects such as Derry Scherhant and Johan Manzambi can also play on the right. Scherhant – pushed out by Vincenzo Grifo on the left – is eager to establish himself on the right.

Beste, while not especially great, has been noticeably better than Dinkçi this year. Schuster seems committed to making it work with Yuito Suzuki in the No. 10 slot. There doesn’t appear to be much in the way of Dinkçi agreeing to head over to the last club he scored a Bundesliga goal against some 18 months ago.

GGFN | Peter Weis