Two Bundesliga stars have exposed the deep-rooted crisis at Wolfsburg, with both Mohamed Amoura and Lovro Majer at the center of a club struggling to find its identity—on and off the pitch.
It all started in January, when former coach Daniel Bauer made a bold statement: "The team, the we, comes before everything." Those words came as he explained why top scorer Amoura was left out of the squad. Last weekend against Bayern Munich, history repeated itself. Amoura was once again absent, and Lovro Majer was also benched. These two cases aren't isolated incidents—they highlight Wolfsburg's biggest problem: a fractured squad.
Amoura may be the club's leading scorer with eight goals this season, but his behavior off the ball is causing chaos. According to kicker, the striker clashed with teammate Leandro Paredes before the Bayern match, leading to another squad suspension. This is the second such incident this year, following a similar one in January. Even worse, kicker reports that Amoura had a "serious altercation" with full-back Joakim Maehle toward the end of last season.
Current coach Dieter Hecking didn't mince words: "In situations like these, there are no two opinions. Discipline has to be there, and in that moment in training, it wasn't." For a club that spent a whopping €68 million on transfers (per transfermarkt.de) and now finds itself in a desperate relegation battle, having a star player who causes unrest is the last thing they need.
Then there's Lovro Majer—a different kind of problem. The versatile Croatian has completely fallen out of favor under Hecking, playing just 106 minutes since the 61-year-old took over. It's a stunning fall from grace for a player who cost €25 million, making him the third-most expensive signing in Wolfsburg's history.
But the truth is, Majer has never truly justified that price tag. In his first season, he managed a respectable five goals and five assists. But last year, he was nearly invisible due to muscle injuries. This season, he showed some promise with five goal contributions in the first half, but since matchday 17, he's been waiting for another. In a brutal relegation fight, Hecking is simply choosing other players over him.
As Wolfsburg faces the very real possibility of direct relegation on the final matchday, these two cases reveal a club in turmoil. One star is a discipline problem; the other is a costly underperformer. Either way, the "we" that Bauer talked about seems a long way off.