MSV Duisburg recently celebrated their return to the 2. Bundesliga, though they are already rumoured to have agreed terms with Björn Jopek and Thomas Bröker, amongst others.
German sports magazine, kicker, were among the first to break the news that both Jopek and Bröker were nearly confirmed as done deals by the Westphalian club. Both players were out of contract this summer at their respective clubs, 1. FC Union Berlin and 1. FC Köln, so would join for free if the moves go through.
Jopek, 21, has enjoyed a solid season in the capital. A fantastic brace against FC Ingolstadt 04 was the highlight and evidence of the player that Duisburg could be getting, which is especially exciting for the fans if he can reproduce that on a regular basis.
Bröker has managed a meager 41 minutes all season for the Billy Goats, leaving him understandably unhappy with a lack of game time. Equally happy playing at striker as he is on either wing, he would also be a useful addition to Gino Lettieri's squad.
Stanislav Iljutcenko (VfL Osnabrück), Andreas Wiegel (Rot-Weiß Erfurt) and Fanol Perdedaj (Energie Cottbus) are also rumoured to be interesting Duisburg, according to Reviersport and liga-zwei.de. 24-year-old Iljutcenko, who scored 13 goals and popped up with eight assists this year, would be a real coup for the club.
Björn Kopplin, a team-mate of Jopek at Union, has also caught the attention of Lettieri. Dynamo Dresden's Benjamin Kirsten is being mulled over as a possible back up for star goalkeeper Michael Ratajczak.
Ratajczak, along with Sascha Dum and Branimir Bajic, have all had their contracts automatically renewed, though there are still issues to be resolved with Michael Gardawski, Kingsley Onuegbu and Kevin Wolze. Wolze is expected to sign on again but there are doubts whether Gardawski and Onuegbu will be joining him at the MSV-Arena next season.