St. Louis City Sign Timo Baumgartl As Free Agent

The first signing of the Olof Mellberg era is here (even though to be fair I think this move was planned prior to his hiring)! St. Louis City have signed 28 year old German centerback Timo Baumgartl as a free agent heading into 2025. Baumgartl last featured for Schalke 04 in the 2.Bundesliga in Germany.

Baumgartl came up through the Stuttgart system where he would eventually become a mainstay at, making 121 1st team appearances during his time there. He would also win the 2.Bundesliga with Stuttgart during the 2016/2017 European season. He would depart Stuttgart during the summer of 2019, joining PSV in the Eredivisie where he would finish with 36 games played in total there. But during his tenure with PSV, Baumgartl would go on loan back to Germany with Union Berlin. During his loan stints with Union Berlin, he would finish with 43 games played and 4 goal contributions. Finally, his career journey has most recently ended up with Schalke where he joined heading into the 2023 European season. Baumgartl played 13 games with Schalke 04. 

It will be interesting to see how Olof Mellberg wants to set up his team tactically in 2025. With the likes of Jannes Horn, Joakim Nilsson, Henry Kessler, and now Baumgartl on this roster, a back three would make sense to me. But I am excited for this signing for St. Louis fans as the German/2.Bundesliga profiles match other successes that we’ve already seen on this roster.