As reported by Kicker, St. Pauli left-back Leart Paqarada (28) will sign a three-year contract with FC Köln and will join the Bundesliga side in the summer when his current deal expires.
This comes after the club confirmed that Noah Katterbach would end his loan at FC Basel and spend the remainder of the season at 2. Bundesliga side Hamburg. The signing of Paqarada has nothing to do with the uncertain future of Jonas Hector, who could retire from professional football at the end of the season.
Paqarada is regarded as one of the 2. Bundesliga’s best left-backs and has already received praise from FC Köln’s Christian Keller: “He has been playing very consistently for years, he’s very intelligent, has a high level of technical ability and is very confident in building up the game even when under pressure from the opponent.”
The 28-year-old knows the area well after representing Bayer Leverkusen at youth level before joining Sandhausen in 2014, where he played until joining St. Pauli on a free transfer in 2020.
During his time at St. Pauli, Paqarada has played 85 games across all competitions, creating 20 goals from left-back, and has played 230 games in the 2. Bundesliga across both teams.
In other FC Köln news, head coach Steffen Baumgart stated that he’s no longer negotiating a contract extension beyond 2024 but has no intention of leaving the club, and is also open to a new deal until 2025, but is only thinking on a short-term basis.
GGFN | Daniel Pinder
