After the highs of reaching second place in the league a year ago, Wolfsburg were brought back down to earth with a disappointing eighth place finish this season. Even in pre-season Wolfsburg suffered a significant set back when playmaker Kevin de Bruyne’s protracted transfer to Manchester City was finally completed. German international Julian Draxler was signed from Schalke with large expectations on his back and, though he had a solid season, he could never replace de Bryune. But the transfer of the Belgian midfielder was just one factor in Wolfsburg’s tough season. Injuries to important players also hurt them with the likes of Bas Dost, Diego Benaglio, Naldo and Draxler himself all missing for significant periods of time during the season. Furthermore the failure of the club to sign a centre forward capable of scoring twenty goals a season also hurt them badly and no player managed to get into double figures in the league. Finally the club clearly struggled to manage the challenge of their Champions League campaign with their domestic commitments and, as the season went on, results following Champions League matches got steadily worse. Nevertheless the club did manage to get into the quarter finals of that competition and beat finalists Real Madrid in their best performance of the season before narrowly going out in the second leg. Had the squad managed to perform like that in their league matches, they would have made it back into the Champions League for next season. Instead Wolfsburg will not play in either European competition in 2016/17 which will make recruitment tough. A run of seven games without a win between rounds 26 – 32 meant they were unable to finish in the top seven but it was earlier in the campaign that they really lost ground and dropped down the table. A run of six winless before and after the winter break hurt the team and they never recovered. Off field problems with players did not help either with Nicklas Bentdner being sacked close to the end of the season while Max Kruse was also in the news for a drunken night out in Berlin right when Dieter Hecking’s side needed to accelerate. The squad is likely to be cut down for next season with a couple of outgoings already confirmed. However some of their bigger names will also be targeted by other clubs. Wolfsburg will stick with their coach for next season despite their low finish this term, however the pressure will be on him to get it right early on so he has a vitally important pre season coming up. Few players have come out of this season with much credit but the emergence of Maximilian Arnold as a regular in the team was one of the few positive notes and with his 31 league appearances he was also the second most used player in the squad.
