1. FSV Mainz 05 have completed the transfer of 18-year-old defender Marin Sverko from 2. Bundesliga side, Karlsruher SC.

The young Croatian international has signed for free and on a four-year contract until June 2021. The U19 international has made his debut for KSC at this season and played twice, against 1. FC Kaiserlautern and SpVgg Greuther Fürth. When he is not with the first team, he is usually playing with the youth team of KSC, in the U19 A-Junioren Bundesliga Süd/Südwest where his team currently sit in 12th on 18 points.

Starting to build the next generation at Mainz

This transfer gives the opportunity to Mainz to start and create it's new team with talented and young players. It is also an opportunity for Marin Sverko, who might be able to play high level games in one of the five biggest leagues in Europe.

According to the sporting director of the Bundesliga side, Rouven Schröder, who exressed his thoughts on the official club website, they "see a lot of potential for him to have a long career in professional football". Thus this signing is logical for both sides. The sporting director also added that they were "delighted that he [Marin Sverko] has decided to take the next step of his development with Mainz 05”.

The young defender usually plays as a left back but he can also play as a centre back, so he is really versatile which could be key in the future for the team trained by Martin Schmidt since 2015. The former German international, up until the under-15s, is a tall and very athletic player of 1.87m which is a big advantage. Sverko has impressed in his first few games as a professional and will be hoping to continue that at a higher level.

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Chloe Gallot
Between Ultimo Diez and everywhere else