Losing your World Cup winning centre-back in the form of Matthias Ginter to Dortmund will always big a huge blow to a team such as Freiburg. Ginter was the standout name for the club, who work on one of the lowest budgets in the Bundesliga; they need to sell their top name(s) in order to reinvest in their squad. Ginter may well have gone, yet Freiburg's transfer dealings this summer have been extremely impressive, bringing in mainly fresh, young blood, as well as one or two more experienced players, whilst letting those who were, let's fair to say deadwood at the club, leave for a new challenge.
The key transfer though was making Admir Mehmedi's loan move from Ukrainian giants Dynamo Kiev into a permanent one. 12 goals in 32 Bundesliga appearances, was a decent return for Freiburg's top-scorer last season and this was somebody experiencing his first season in Germany's top-flight. His season was capped off by coming off the bench to score in Switzerland's 2-1 comeback victory against Ecuador in their first game at the World Cup. With Ginter's departure, Mehmedi has now taken the mantle of becoming Freiburg's most important player. That brings with it added pressure to perform and find the net on a regular basis, and he may well still be young at 23-years old, but Mehmedi will only get stronger and stronger.
There has also been a major overhaul in Freiburg's defence. With Oliver Baumann departing to Hoffenheim, Roman Burki, signed from Grasshoppers in Switzerland, and Bremen's Sebastian Mielitz have both arrived with their eyes set on the number one position in the team. Experienced full-back Sascha Riether has something to prove, after being relegated with Fulham in the Premier League, as does Stefan Mitrovic; the 24-year old centre-back arriving from Benfica, having spent last season on loan at Valladolid in Spain (like Riether, he suffered the disappointment of relegation). However, arguably the most impressive summer dealing at the heart of Freiburg's defence is the arrival of Marc-Oliver Kempf, the highly-rated youngster coming from Frankfurt, having been heavily linked with Serie A champions Juventus in recent times.
So is a top-half finish possible for a club who has a limited budget? Look back at the 2012/13 campaign and that's all you need to know, missing out on 4th place and a remarkable Champions League spot to Schalke, who beat them to it on the final day of that season. Going to the Mage Solar Stadion is never easy, and if Freiburg can be fairly consistent, the top-half is not out of their reach. They are one of a number of clubs in that tightly knit midtable group, who could one week be on the edge of the European places, and the next be just above the bottom-three (highlighting again the competitiveness of the Bundesliga). Their dealings this summer though have caught the eye. Yes, Ginter's departure leaves a big mark (especially as it looked as if he may stay on for one more season before joining Dortmund NEXT summer), but Freiburg's spirit and will to be the underdog can take them places where they're not expected to be.