Hoffenheim finally organize Turkish loan for transfer mega-flop Attila Szalai | OneFootball

Florian Plettenberg reports that Hoffenheim have officially sealed a loan out to Turkey for Hungarian transfer flop Atilla Szalai. Such rumors had been cropping up again in recent days have been noted by GGFN. Ultimately, the speculation that Szalai would head to Kasımpaşa was dismissed by GGFN due to the spurious nature of such rumors in the past.

Plettenberg nevertheless reports that die Kraichgauer have now officially managed it. Szalai joined Hoffenheim on a €12.3m transfer from Fenerbahçe in July of 2023. At the time, the Hungarian international was considered a marquee signing. Szalai quiclky ran afoul of then TSG head coach Pellegrino Matarazzo, however.

After being subbed off at the half of the opening day fixture of the 2023/24 season, Szalai would make just one more start under Matarazzo before being loaned out to SC Freiburg at the midway point of the season. Szalai couldn’t establish himself in Breisgau either, turning in a disastrous performance in his longest appearance off the bench.

After several attempts to loan him back out to Turkey fell through at the end of the summer 2024 transfer window fell through, Hoffenheim at least managed to get him off the books with a loan to Standard Liege in January 2024. Szalai made four appearances in the Belgian Pro League. In the last two years, he’s made only seven Bundesliga appearances in addition to featuring in a Pokal match.

Known to have issues with his work ethic and prone to strange behavior, Szalai has seen his estimated market value plummet from a career high of €15m to €1.7m since he moved to Germany.

The 28-year-old has also earned only 16 of his 47 Hungarian national team caps over the last two years.

He did start one game for Magyars at the German-hosted Euros last summer.

This too didn’t go terribly well.

He remains under contract with Hoffenheim until 2027.

GGFN | Peter Weis