While relegation was a bitter pill to swallow for SC Freiburg fans, the arrival of Nils Petersen will certainly have given them all a huge lift.
Petersen scored goals for fun with Freiburg
Petersen was initially signed up in January, on a loan until the end of the season. It soon became clear that the two were a match made in heaven.
A second-half hat-trick in his first game for the club made him an instant hit. While he went on to score nine times in 12 games, Petersen couldn't keep Freiburg in the Bundesliga after a dramatic final day.
The 26-year-old struggled for game time with Werder Bremen and despite offers from Hannover 96 and other Bundesliga clubs, he opted to stay in Freiburg.
His goalscoring record in the 2. Bundesliga makes for good reading for the Freiburg faithful. He's scored exactly a goal every other game in the second division, and will be hoping to propell them back to the top flight.
Neither Bremen or the Schwarzwald-Stadion side disclosed the details in relation the transfer fee, but Petersen confirmed he had signed a contract through to 2019.
A high profile addition after big names depart
After losing Roman Bürki (Borussia Dortmund), Admir Mehmedi (Bayer Leverkusen), Oliver Sorg (Hannover) and Jonathan Schmid (TSG 1899 Hoffenheim), amongst others, Petersen is a welcome addition to the club.
He joins Tim Kleindienst as the new striking recruit, who should both benefit from fellow new signing, Vincenzo Grifo's vision and dead-ball abilities.
"At some point for me it became clear that I wanted to stay here long term, regardless of the league," said Petersen.
He continued, "Even though we unfortunately ended up going down after a crazy season," he said he had "discovered the ideal conditions".
Jochen Saier added that the club have "never given up" on keeping Petersen, despite there only being a "small chance" of it happening.