Relegation from the Bundesliga was supposed to bring a clean break for VfL Wolfsburg: less income, a significantly smaller budget and a fresh sporting start. So far, though, the transfer market has told a different story. While most second-division clubs have to think twice about every euro, VfL are assembling a squad on a scale even other recently relegated giants such as Hamburg, Schalke 04 and Cologne could only dream of.
The Lower Saxony club have already invested 22.7 million euros in new players this summer. More striking still, all 17 of their rivals combined have so far spent only just under 19 million euros in publicly known transfer fees.
One second-division club are currently spending more on new players than the entire rest of the league put together. That raises an obvious question: is this still normal competition, or is it already a distortion of competition? With their financial clout, are Wolfsburg shifting the balance of power in the 2. Bundesliga too far?
What does Fabian Reese's move to Wolfsburg mean?
Hardly any transfer captures Wolfsburg's special situation better than Fabian Reese's. Wolfsburg paid Hertha BSC eight million euros for the former captain and one of the club's figureheads.
Reese has been one of the standout players in the 2. Bundesliga in recent years. He made 91 competitive appearances for Hertha, scored 35 goals and set up another 31. Wolfsburg sporting director Pirmin Schwegler accordingly described him on his signing as "one of the strongest players in the 2. Bundesliga".
For Reese himself, the decision was by no means straightforward. "The decision to make a move was, as you can surely understand, not necessarily easy for me," he said after signing. The way VfL had pursued him, the professional conditions, as well as "the values of the club, of Volkswagen and of the people around it" had played a decisive role in his decision.
Over recent years, Reese had become a figure fans could identify with in the capital, a face of the new Berlin that, after years of chaos, wanted to reconnect with its fans and its city. Just how close that bond had supposedly become only emerged last year. In November 2025, Reese signed a new deal until 2030 ahead of schedule. Hertha dressed up the announcement with an extraordinary campaign: "It was no secret that we absolutely wanted to tie Fabi down to the club for the long term. On top of that, Fabi identifies one hundred per cent with Hertha BSC," sporting chief Benjamin Wieber said at the time.
The message could hardly have been clearer: this player was not meant to be just another employee. Reese was supposed to remain the face of the club and its city. His own words at the time also left little room for doubt about that bond. Reese described Hertha as the club of his heart and said he still had a lot he wanted to do in Berlin. The extension to 2030 looked like a commitment that went far beyond the usual business of football.
Less than a year later, that story is over. And it is a direct 2. Bundesliga rival that has ended it. Wolfsburg put eight million euros on the table and signed a player Hertha had publicly turned into a symbol of their future only a few months earlier.
That is why this move is likely to hit many Hertha fans far harder than the ordinary loss of a key player. Through his emotional ties to Berlin, his manner and ultimately the contract extension, Reese had become a special figure in his own right. Now he is suddenly playing for a club that in many ways stands for almost the exact opposite of what Hertha want to be.
Sportingly, Hertha, who have not even signed a single player yet, are losing one of their best players. Emotionally, they are losing a figure fans identified with. Wolfsburg are getting both. Above all, the fact a relegated Bundesliga club can pay another major second-division side eight million euros for a second-division player shows just how different the financial conditions within the league really are.
IMAGOWhich other professionals have VfL Wolfsburg signed?
Reese is far from the only example. Fraser Hornby arrived from SV Darmstadt 98 for four million euros. Once again, a direct league rival lost an important player to the Wolves. Muhammed Damar (22) also joined from TSG Hoffenheim. Hauke Wahl moved to VfL from the relegated Bundesliga club for 1.8 million euros.
Robert Glatzel cost only around 1.7 million euros in transfer fee. Yet the former Hamburg striker highlighted another Wolfsburg advantage too. VfL can not only pay transfer fees that would barely be realistic for many second-division clubs, they can also cover wages for established professionals that most of the competition can only dream of. Glatzel brings experience from more than 180 second-division matches and has shown over many years that he can regularly hit double figures in this league. In that respect, Wolfsburg are carrying on exactly as they did in the Bundesliga. Even though main backer VW is in an almost existential crisis and up to 100,000 people could lose their jobs, VfL Wolfsburg can, for the time being, keep spending.
Wolfsburg also paid SC Freiburg 700,000 euros for Swiss centre-forward Alessio Besio, even though the 22-year-old did not make a single professional appearance for the Breisgau club in three years and spent last season on loan at third-division side Verl. Then there is Timon Wellenreuther, signed from Feyenoord for around one million euros and now set for weeks on the sidelines because of a knee injury, as well as Elvis Rexhbecaj, who arrived on a free transfer from FC Augsburg. Even without a fee, that deal too would have carried a completely different economic dimension for numerous second-division clubs. Rexhbecaj brings experience from more than 150 Bundesliga matches.
Wolfsburg are not just collecting prospects. The 2009 German champions are targeting professionals, several of whom have long since proven their quality in the Bundesliga or at the top end of the 2. Bundesliga.
Only a look at recent years really shows how extraordinary Wolfsburg's spending spree is. FC Schalke 04, for example, took in around 8.75 million euros from player sales in the previous 2. Bundesliga season of 2025/26 and invested only 3.4 million euros. That left them with a transfer surplus of 5.35 million euros. Their most expensive signing was centre-forward Christian Gomis for just 1.5 million euros.
Fabian Reese alone therefore cost Wolfsburg more than twice as much as Schalke's entire transfer summer did back then.
Hamburg also worked on a completely different scale before their promotion in 2024/25, despite their ambitious aims. HSV spent around nine million euros in total on new players and brought in about three million euros. Their most expensive arrival, Alexander Rossing-Lelesiit, cost around 2.8 million euros.
The comparison with Hannover 96 is just as stark. The Lower Saxony club had transfer income of 11 million euros in 2025/26 and spent only 4.33 million euros, generating a surplus of around 6.68 million euros.
How much have VfL Wolfsburg earned on the transfer market?
But Wolfsburg are not simply burning money. The picture is not quite that simple. The idea of a club switching on the money tap after relegation and buying out the competition does not tell the full story. The 2015 cup winners are also bringing in considerable sums through player sales.
Patrick Wimmer joined TSG Hoffenheim for around ten million euros. Jakub Kamiński brought in a further 5.5 million euros with his move to Cologne. Lovro Majer was reportedly drawn to AEK Athens for six million euros. In total, income currently stands at around 24 million euros. That means the Wolves have even made a small profit despite the spectacular spending spree. And there is unlikely to be any end to it soon. Konstantinos Koulierakis will leave the Wolves for Roma for 15 million euros. Goalkeeper Kamil Grabara also still looks likely to move for a fee in the millions, with Atalanta Bergamo most recently said to be interested.
That is an important distinction. Wolfsburg are financing their new signings almost entirely through their own sales. Their real financial special status therefore shows up less in the current transfer balance and more in their ability to immediately reinvest those millions into a squad built for direct promotion.
There is also some historical precedent for Wolfsburg's situation. When VfB Stuttgart targeted an immediate return after their Bundesliga relegation in 2019/20, the Swabians also spent heavily. Around 25.4 million euros went on new players. Silas alone cost eight million euros when he joined from Paris FC, while Sasa Kalajdzic arrived from Admira Wacker for around six million euros.
Stuttgart were therefore operating on an even bigger spending scale back then than Wolfsburg are now. There was one crucial difference, though. VfB had simultaneously sold players for a total of around 79.5 million euros. So despite the heavy investment, the window closed with an enormous surplus of more than 54 million euros.
Getty ImagesSpending a lot of money is nothing new for Wolfsburg
Another point matters here too: VfL moving large sums on the transfer market did not start this summer. Last season, Wolfsburg already brought in around 37 million euros through sales, while spending about 68 million euros on new players. The end result was a transfer deficit of just under 31 million euros.
Vinicius Souza alone cost around 15 million euros when he joined from Sheffield United. For Mohamed Amoura, who was signed permanently from Union Saint-Gilloise after his previous loan, around 14.75 million euros became due.
Million-euro transfers are nothing new in Wolfsburg. What has changed is the setting. In the Bundesliga, Wolfsburg were competing financially with Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen, RB Leipzig and a number of other clubs that can regularly spend double-digit millions on individual players. In the 2. Bundesliga, that same Wolfsburg model now meets clubs whose entire transfer budget is, in some cases, lower than the fee VfL paid for Fabian Reese alone. That is why the same sums feel completely different after relegation.
IMAGOHow big is the gap between Wolfsburg and all the other clubs in the second division?
Reese, Hornby, Glatzel, Wahl, Rexhbecaj and Wellenreuther are emblematic of a transfer strategy that makes Wolfsburg's plan unmistakable: if possible, their stay in the 2. Bundesliga is supposed to last only one year. And there is another point not to forget. Players such as Amoura have so far followed VfL into the second division too. According to transfermarkt.de, the Wolves' squad value is 194.15 million euros, which would place VfL ninth in the Bundesliga. In second place in the second division are fellow relegated side FC St. Pauli with 45.93 million euros, around 4.5 times less. To say VfL Wolfsburg are the FC Bayern Munich of the Bundesliga's lower tier would be a huge understatement: Bayern's squad at 1.07 billion (!) is not even worth twice as much as RB Leipzig's squad, currently 604 million euros. And BVB are still buying.
Whether Wolfsburg's absurd comparative financial strength actually leads to a distortion of competition can only be answered on the pitch once the ball starts rolling. This transfer window already makes one thing clear, though: VfL Wolfsburg are operating financially in a different league from much of their new competition.