Roman Neustädter (75 -> 78)

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Name: Roman Neustädter (Neustadter on the DB)
Date of Birth: Feb 19 1988 (Age: 21)
Current Club: 1. FSV Mainz 05
Position: Centre Back / Defensive Midfield
Height: 1.88 m
Nationality: German
On the DB: 75



Roman Neustädter is the son of successful football player Peter Neustädter (273 professional games in Germany, 3 national team caps for Kazakhstan), who moved to Mainz in 1994, and from this time on his son also played for the Mainz youth teams.
In 2006, when his father retired from professional football, Roman was promoted to the reserves. He took over the spot his father left as a CB in the reserves team.



This season, he made his debut for the first team on the 10th turn when he was subbed in after 83 minutes for a striker against SC Freiburg to secure the 1-0 lead. He then picked up another 6 short sub appearances, until he made his starting XI debut on the 21st turn, and already set up his first goal. He also kept his starting spot for the next game, however, since then, he only made one more start, but also 6 more sub appearances, including one yesterday. In total, he now has 16 games, out of them 13 sub appearances, with 1 assist and 1 yellow card.
He also played 3 games in the DFB-Pokal (the cup), 2 subs and 1 start in the semi-final.



Unlike his father, he decided to play for Germany, and has already been capped for the U-20 NT twice last year, and even scored one goal. He played there in his native CB position, at Mainz he usually played as a DM.


He is on the DB at a rating of 75, and despite his lack of regular games, a small rise to around 78 should be possible. The main reason I decided to mention him is not the short-term riser aspect, but that everytime I saw him play, he really impressed me. Personally, I rate him very highly from what I've seen. Despite being offered a new contract by Mainz, he decided not to renew his contract there, so I hope he signs for a similar club (solid midfield in the 2. Liga with ambitions for the Bundesliga, for example Greuter Fürth, Aachen, Kaiserslautern) and can get a starting spot there (although it has been rumoured that Dortmund with his former coach Jürgen Klopp, Hoffenheim and Leverkusen are also interested), and with the experience he probably gets he can easily be 85+ player IMO.

Update: Moved to Borussia Mönchengladbach

Update: (Nov 4) Rose to 78

Danny Latza (74 -> 76)

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Name: Danny Latza
Date of Birth: July 12 1989 (Age: 20)
Current Club: FC Schalke 04
Position: Defensive / Central Midfield
Height: 1.79 m
Nationality: German



Danny Latza is a home-grown Schalke player, who's gone through all youth teams since his 9th birthday.
He made his debut earlier this year, but his short 5 minute debut wasn't enough to leave anyone impressed.
Today, he replaced the injured Westermann at half-time and took over his spot as a DM/CM. He looked like one of the better Schalke players after the half-time whistle, and almost prevented Schalke from their loss, but after his sliding tackle stopped the shot on the line, the ball was deflected unluckily from his chest and slowly rolled into the net.



He signed his professional contract this January after Ernst's departure, and with Westermann injured and a solid, but unfortunate performance he might get a few more appearances this season.


He's also a regular for Germany's youth teams, and showed some great performances for the U-19 and U-20.



You can see his goal about 50 seconds into the game.



He's on the DB as a DM at rating of 74, and can be snapped up for around 200k - 300k

PS: He should definitely get a decent haircut though.
Update: He got a decent haircut

Update: (Jun 9 2010) Rose to 76