Arminia Bielefeld capped off a busy week of transfer active by completing the permanent signing of Leandro Putaro from VfL Wolfsburg.

He is one of four players to complete deals with the club over the past few days, with Stefan Ortega, Andraz Sporar and Konstantin Kerschbaumer also joining.

There have been four departures as well, including Malcolm Cacutalua who has joined Erzgebirge Aue.

Bielefeld hoping Putaro will continue development

20-year-old forward Putaro had made just five substitute appearances for Wolfsburg when he was sent out on loan last summer to Bielefeld. He had a mixed time of it, failing to score in his 15 appearances. He fell completely out of favour under Jürgen Kramny, one of three permanent bosses over the course of the season, before being recalled by Jeff Saibene.

After returning to training with the club, Putaro has now signed a three-year contract with Bielefeld, with both director of sport Samir Arabi and Saibene hoping that the “talented attacking player” can progress well under their tutorage.

Arabi believe that his development is “far from complete,” and he said that the club were “pleased” that they would be able to help his progress. Saibene added that “he can still be very useful for our team.”

Ortega set to be number one

The other man to sign a permanent deal this week is Ortega, who as expected returned to the club after three years with 1860 Munich.

He previously played 48 times for Bielefeld, and ultimately made 64 appearances for 1860 after joining in 2014. He returns to his first club as replacement for last season’s first team keepers, Wolfgang Hesl and Daniel Davari, who have moved on to Würzburger Kickers and MSV Duisburg respectively.

Meanwhile Sporar and Kerschbaumer have also joined the club, albeit both on a temporary basis. Slovenian international forward Sporar arrives from FC Basel having failed to convince for the perennial Swiss champions, scoring just one in 18 months for the club. They can have high hopes for Kerschbaumer though, who contributed 12 assists over the course of two seasons with Brentford in England.

Bielefeld have also let several senior players go in the past week. Sebastian Schuppan, Steffen Lang and Michael Görlitz all leaving upon the expiration of their contracts, whilst Cacutalua has joined Aue, with the defender signing a two-year deal with the Violas having failed to establish himself at Bielefeld.

Quotes via Kicker.