Adam Szalai has put pen to paper on a four year deal at Hoffenheim. The striker signs for an undisclosed fee. Hoffenheim have pipped Hertha BSC who had also been linked to Szalai. Hertha will have to continue to look for a striker after the departures of both Adrian Ramos and Pierre-Michel Lassoga.
Szalai, 26, has a wealth of experience in the Bundesliga having spent all but two of his senior year career in the league. As a product of the VfB Stuttgart academy, he initially was brought into their second-team before moving to Spain with Real Madrid Castilla. Szalai would return to Germany in 2010 as a Mainz loanee, but was then signed on a permanent basis for the following three seasons season. After three years with Mainz he was bought by Schalke as a "back-up" striker to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Huntelaar's loss became Szalai's gain as Szalai played twenty-eight times which for the most part Huntelaar was on the treatment table. In the six years Szalai has played in Germany he's made over a century of appearances finding the net thirty-three times.
With a wealth of Bundesliga experience under his belt, Szalai could prove to be an efficient signing for Hoffenheim. Whilst they are well stocked in attacking options for the forthcoming season, Hoffenheim are expected to begin to bolster their defensive options for the new campaign.