Bad injury news places VfL Wolfsburg’s administrative team under pressure as the January 2026 transfer window draws to a close. On Tuesday, the Bundesliga outfit confirmed that Sunderland loanee Jenson Seelt will be out indefinitely with a knee injury. New January addition Cleiton also remains unavailable due to an ankle injury. When it comes to the state of Wolfsburg’s defense, there’s not much good news to report.
Wolfsburg are already missing central defender Konstantinos Koulierakis with injury issues, forcing head coach Daniel Bauer to turn to two want-away centre backs in order to staff his central defensive corps. German Mortiz Jenz is known to wish to depart the club. Denis Vavro’s days with Germany’s green company team also appear numbered after a controversial incident occurring in his native Slovakia over the Christmas break.
Wolfsburg lost to relegation rials Mainz this past weekend
What has gone wrong with Wolfsburg’s transfer window?
In reporting on Wolfsburg’s needs heading into the current window,Get German Football News noted that managing director Peter Christiansen and newly appointed sporting director Pirmin Schwegler were operating on a tight budget. Christiansen and Schwegler prioritized attacking assistance this month, in the process leaving themselves with little chance of acquiring English central defensive target Charlie Cresswell.
The Lower Saxon Autostädter continue to operate with an estimated negative transfer balance in the -€20m range. The newly re-jiggered front office probably cannot afford another purchase in excess of €15m this month. Much like in the summer, rumors linking Wolfsburg with numerous centre-backs presently crop up. Schwegler and Christiansen will nevertheless encounter great difficulty closing deals.
Is there anything to the Ko Itakura rumors?
Not really. Dutch news sources confirm that Ajax are not keen on letting the former Borussia Mönchengladbach professional go. It might yet prove the case that Itakura forces a move back to the Bundesliga, but a more likely scenario sees the Eredivisie outfit block the move. As Wolfsburg learned with the case of Brentford defender Kristoffer Ajer, even a player semi-keen on joining their club can easily see a move nixed.
Some German sources currently report that Ajax are offering Wolfsburg Itakura’s teammate Josip Sutalo as a possible alternative. A conclusion of this deal too seems unlikely as Sutalo (€17m) is considered a much higher value player than Itakura (€10m). Schwegler and Christiansen again find themselves hamstrung by financial limits.
Are Wolfsburg Bundesliga relegation candidates?
Currently sitting in 12th place in the Bundesliga table on 19 points, die Wölfe must find a way of accruing at least 16 more points before the conclusion of the campaign. The fact that the team recently dropped points against relegation rivals Mainz and Heidenheim certainly doesn’t bode well. Bauer’s charges did respond well to the recent Bayern Munich shellacking by taking three points off relegation rivals FC St. Pauli.
A total of 19 points after 19 games is the worst record in Wolfsburg’s Bundesliga history. They also had 19 points at the same point in the 2016/17 campaign, but at that time the goal difference was slightly better (-10 instead of -13). That year, VfL only saved themselves in the relegation play-offs against Eintracht Braunschweig.
The central defensive issues – well exemplified by the recent Bundesliga own-goals record set by the team – still shine a harsh spotlight on the crux of the problem. Schwegler struggled to strike an optimistic tone after the most recent league loss, noting that a performance like that seen against Mainz cannot be repeated.
Schwegler’s recent words
“The opponents were better in every respect,” Schwegler noted in the MEWA Arena mixed zone. “I knew what I was getting myself into. We need to wake up and face reality. Thankfully, it’s not too late yet. I’m keen to change the culture. We will tackle the next few weeks with the right people who are up for it.”
