SigningLab · Annual Report

Signing Accuracy — Bundesliga 2025/26

Published on January 12, 2026

Executive Summary

150
Real signings
140
Evaluated
39%
Clubs' average hit rate
30
Successful
67
Unsuccessful

In total we identified 150 real signings by the clubs of Bundesliga in the 2025/26 season — academy promotions, loan returns, internal moves and transfers that never went through are excluded. Of these, 140 are included in the hit-rate calculation; 10 are youth investments (under-23 with no game time), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes in the season count as unsuccessful.

League Analysis

Champions Bayern München posted a hit rate of 80% on signings (5 evaluated), holding 1st place in the accuracy ranking. The bottom four in the table had an average hit rate of 22% on signings — below the league average (39%), highlighting the link between recruitment quality and sporting performance.

Bayern München leads the accuracy ranking with 80% and Union Berlin closes the list with 10%. p. over the clubs' decisions).

Club Ranking

ClubLeague positionSigningsEvaluatedSuccessfulFairUnsuccessfulHit rate %SigningLab*
1Bayern München55401
80%
100%
2Eintracht Frankfurt54220
75%
100%
31899 Hoffenheim87412
64%
71%
4Borussia Dortmund44211
62%
100%
5RB Leipzig98251
56%
100%
6Bayer Leverkusen1210343
50%
80%
7Werder Bremen15º88314
44%
100%
8FC Augsburg109144
33%
89%
9Hamburger SV13º1817359
32%
94%
10Borussia Mönchengladbach12º98134
31%
88%
111. FC Köln14º1414167
29%
93%
12FSV Mainz 0510º77124
29%
100%
13VfL Wolfsburg16º88125
25%
100%
14FC St. Pauli18º1110127
20%
90%
151. FC Heidenheim17º65023
20%
80%
16VfB Stuttgart55104
20%
60%
17SC Freiburg66024
17%
83%
18Union Berlin11º55014
10%
100%

* SigningLab: hit rate of SigningLab’s verdicts (recommend or not recommend) on each club’s evaluated signings, projected at the time of signing.

The difference between Signings and Evaluated are youth investments (under-23 with no game time in the season), classified separately. Signings without relevant minutes are unsuccessful (Did not deliver).

Season Highlights

The ten signings with the greatest technical impact of the season, according to the Player Impact Score (PIS).

PlayerClubPosMinG+AAvg ratingRatingSigningLab
Luis DíazBayern MünchenF245015+147.28Excellent
Yan DiomandeRB LeipzigF247612+87.72Excellent
Luka VuškovićHamburger SVD24416+07.01Excellent
Nicolas JacksonBayern MünchenF10378+15.99Good
Wouter Burger1899 HoffenheimM24404+57.09Excellent
Vladimír Coufal1899 HoffenheimD30171+87.16Excellent
Malik TillmanBayer LeverkusenF16896+06.68Excellent
Sheraldo BeckerFSV Mainz 05F9533+36.93Excellent
Cameron PuertasWerder BremenM18781+26.06Excellent
Jonathan TahBayern MünchenD20242+15.95Good

Methodology

Club assessment — the universe of signings

The report considers exclusively genuine signings for the first-team squad, identified by the player's effective incorporation into the group between seasons. Excluded from the universe are: academy promotions, loan returns, internal administrative moves and transfers recorded but never completed. The aim is to measure the quality of market decisions — and those alone.

Player Impact Score (PIS)

Each evaluated signing receives a score from 0 to 100 that combines four observable technical dimensions: individual performance (average match ratings over the season), output (goals, assists and decisive actions adjusted for game time), collective performance (starting status and correlation with the club's results) and availability (volume of matches, adjusted for interruptions). High-impact players with reduced game time are promoted through an alternative efficiency criterion.

Outcome classification

The rating tiers are: Excellent and Good (successful signings — a full point in the index), Fair (intermediate performance — half a point) and Below expectations / Did not deliver (unsuccessful signings). Two categories sit outside the calculation, for distinct reasons: Injury (a serious injury prevented a fair assessment) and Investment (an under-23 player with low game time — the return depends on development and cannot be counted for or against the club in this cycle). Signings that did not reach relevant game time in the season are classified as unsuccessful, reflecting the sporting cost of the decision.

A note on scope

This is SigningLab's public, simplified model, developed for transparent retrospective market assessment. SigningLab's commercial solutions for partner clubs use a substantially larger set of variables and dedicated predictive mechanisms, and are not fully reflected in this document.

Appendix — Signings by club

* Youth investment (under-23, no game time in the season) — outside the hit-rate calculation.

1. FC Heidenheim (6 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Diant Ramaj33279001Fair
Arijon Ibrahimović32218124Fair
Christian Joe Conteh1040500Did not deliver
Leonidas Stergiou920300Did not deliver
Leart Paqarada2700Did not deliver
Paul Tschernuth *1000Investment

1. FC Köln (14 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jakub Kamiński34301973Fair
Sebastian Sebulonsen31250500Did not deliver
Kristoffer Lund34228902Below expectations
Ísak Bergmann Jóhannesson32181212Fair
Tom Krauß32180102Fair
Cenk Özkaçar34180100Below expectations
Ragnar Ache29172474Fair
Marius Bülter32160654Fair
Rav van den Berg23113801Fair
Joel Schmied19108000Did not deliver
Alessio Castro-Montes2367013Good
Jusuf Gazibegović62200Did not deliver
Matthias Köbbing3000Did not deliver
Ron-Robert Zieler34000Did not deliver

1899 Hoffenheim (8 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Vladimír Coufal34301718Excellent
Leon Avdullahu33283801Good
Wouter Burger30244045Excellent
Albian Hajdari31244012Good
Bernardo30231800Fair
Tim Lemperle29195982Below expectations
Cole Campbell *118300Investment
Koki Machida14400Did not deliver

Bayer Leverkusen (12 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jarell Quansah30230840Fair
Mark Flekken24213000Good
Malik Tillman29168960Excellent
Loïc Badé27165900Good
Ernest Poku33148455Fair
Ezequiel Fernández25100101Fair
Janis Blaswich3293000Did not deliver
Lucas Vázquez1649912Fair
Eliesse Ben Seghir1926100Below expectations
Claudio Echeverri *1313600Investment
Tim Oermann *121600Investment
Jonas Omlin11000Did not deliver

Bayern München (5 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Luis Díaz3224501514Excellent
Jonathan Tah33202421Good
Tom Bischof29132033Good
Nicolas Jackson26103781Good
Benno Schmitz0000Did not deliver

Borussia Dortmund (4 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Jobe Bellingham32180001Fair
Fábio Silva3082826Good
Aaron Anselmino836810Good
Patrick Drewes2000Did not deliver

Borussia Mönchengladbach (9 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Yannik Engelhardt31249722Fair
Kevin Diks30246750Good
Haris Tabaković322394132Fair
Jens Castrop27159931Below expectations
Shuto Machino33108431Fair
Hugo Bolin1455211Did not deliver
Giovanni Reyna2552610Below expectations
Kota Takai1335700Below expectations
Jan Urbich *74000Investment

Eintracht Frankfurt (5 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Ritsu Doan32237955Fair
Michael Zetterer34197500Fair
Arnaud Kalimuendo19142061Good
Jonathan Burkardt221340131Good
Younes Ebnoutalib *813910Investment

FC Augsburg (10 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Robin Fellhauer34281032Fair
Han-Noah Massengo33243521Below expectations
Fabian Rieder32235963Fair
Anton Kade29174660Fair
Michael Gregoritsch1892762Good
Arthur Chaves1482920Fair
Rodrigo Ribeiro1763220Below expectations
Elias Saad1449900Did not deliver
Yannik Keitel1024700Did not deliver
Ismael Gharbi *219200Investment

FC St. Pauli (11 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Joel Chima Fujita32267113Fair
Arkadiusz Pyrka33258001Below expectations
Mathias Pereira Lage28203022Below expectations
Louis Oppie34161610Did not deliver
Martijn Kaars32136831Did not deliver
Tomoya Ando17126101Good
Andreas Hountondji21108440Did not deliver
Mathias Rasmussen1470500Fair
Ricky Jade-Jones1134920Did not deliver
Taichi Hara143100Did not deliver
Emil Gazdov *1000Investment

FSV Mainz 05 (7 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Phillip Tietz19161852Fair
Stefan Posch16139500Fair
Sheraldo Becker1495333Excellent
Benedict Hollerbach1488212Below expectations
Silas Wamangituka834210Below expectations
Sota Kawasaki2432500Below expectations
William Bøving2722701Below expectations

Hamburger SV (18 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Nicolai Remberg32288002Fair
Luka Vušković29244160Excellent
Fábio Vieira29221575Good
Nicolás Capaldo27200913Below expectations
Jordan Torunarigha29196500Fair
Albert Sambi Lokonga27171250Good
Warmed Omari20160701Fair
Rayan Philippe32129250Did not deliver
Daniel Elfadli29126600Did not deliver
Giorgi Gocholeishvili3095701Did not deliver
Damion Downs1555000Did not deliver
Albert Grønbæk849512Fair
Philip Otele1147711Fair
Yussuf Poulsen1634210Below expectations
Emir Sahiti512200Did not deliver
Sander Tangvik *169000Investment
Immanuel Pherai106300Did not deliver
Daniel Peretz15000Did not deliver

RB Leipzig (9 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Yan Diomande332476128Excellent
Rômulo30220494Fair
Conrad Harder3191933Fair
Johan Bakayoko2977920Fair
Brajan Gruda1375533Good
Ezechiel Banzuzi2859701Fair
Max Finkgrafe2650211Fair
Andrija Maksimović *228800Investment
Leopold Zingerle5000Did not deliver

SC Freiburg (6 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Philipp Treu32219412Fair
Yuito Suzuki29163642Below expectations
Igor Matanović321570112Fair
Derry Scherhant34130851Below expectations
Anthony Jung2652800Did not deliver
Jannik Huth1000Did not deliver

Union Berlin (5 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Derrick Köhn31191012Below expectations
Oliver Burke33169162Below expectations
Stanley N'Soki2682312Fair
Carl Klaus1032900Did not deliver
Matheo Raab259000Did not deliver

VfB Stuttgart (5 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Bilal El Khannouss27163445Good
Lorenz Assignon30110900Below expectations
Badredine Bouanani2948100Below expectations
Stefan Drljača3000Did not deliver
Abdenego Nankishi0000Did not deliver

VfL Wolfsburg (8 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Christian Eriksen33250939Good
Saël Kumbedi30189005Fair
Vinícius Souza32177800Fair
Adam Daghim29144623Below expectations
Jeanuël Belocian15134501Below expectations
Jenson Seelt1169600Below expectations
Jesper Lindstrøm1541500Did not deliver
Kento Shiogai1732910Below expectations

Werder Bremen (8 signings)

PlayerMatchesMinutesGoalsAssistsRating
Yukinari Sugawara32243206Good
Cameron Puertas31187812Excellent
Samuel Mbangula29118232Fair
Isaac Schmidt3067710Did not deliver
Victor Okoh Boniface1232502Good
Karl Hein2518000Did not deliver
Maximilian Wöber53500Did not deliver
Markus Kolke11000Did not deliver