Five Players That Could Leave 1. FC Köln In The Summer

Benno Schmitz

Benno Schmitz is definitely a candidate for leaving the club, as he only has a contract at the Billy Goats until 2024. He fell out of favour under Steffen Baumgart during the latter stages of his time at Köln.

However, he received some more game time under new coach Timo Schultz. In spite of this, Rasmus Carstensen has been preferred for the last two games in the league.

Marvin Schwäbe

Marvin Schwäbe has been 1. FC Köln's best player this season. He has kept three clean sheets in the Bundesliga and has had multiple standout performances.

Originally gaining his starting spot under Steffen Baumgart thanks to injury to Timo Horn, Schwäbe has been great for the Billy Goats since his arrival. Alongside this, he has made 85 saves this season.

Philipp Pentke

At thirty-eight-years-old, Philipp Pentke is a veteran second-choice goalkeeper for Effzeh. In spite of this, his contract runs out in the summer of 2024 so he may be forced to leave the club.

This mostly relies on Marvin Schwäbe staying as, if the German first-choice keeper remains a Köln player, the club from Müngersdorf would have enough options in this case especially with Jonas Ürbig returning from his loan spell at Greuther Fürth.

Rasmus Carstensen

This seems like one of those players like Köln would love to keep a hold of. During the end of Steffen Baumgart's reign as coach of the carnival side, Rasmus Carstensen earnt himself a spot in the lineup. Now, under Timo Schultz he is once again the preferred right-back.

Despite this, he only has a contract until 2024 but may be a player that still chooses to stick with the club in spite of relegation.

Faride Alidou

Lastly, Faride Alidou is another player that may choose to leave the club but in this case due to a different reason. Alidou's contract with Köln only runs until the summer of 2024 due to him being at the club on loan.

Timo Schultz, however, will be keen to keep the player as he has contributed greatly to many positive results in recent months under the new head coach. Köln will no doubt hope that they can strike a deal with Eintracht Frankfurt.

Players not mentioned:

The players not mentioned were: Julian Chabot (as he has already been covered here), Davie Selke (already covered here), Luca Waldschmidt (on loan at Köln (with €3.5 million buy option) and Justin Diehl.