Nottingham Forest have made their first signing of the Oliver Glasner era with the arrival of Xaver Schlager (£5.0m) from RB Leipzig.
The Austrian, signed on a free, has agreed a two-year deal with the Premier League club.
WHO IS XAVER SCHLAGER?
Schlager is a central midfielder who started out in Austrian football with FC Liefering before moving to RB Salzburg, whom he helped reach the semi-finals of the Europa League.
The 26-year-old moved to the German Bundesliga in 2019, where he played for VfL Wolfsburg, earning a fourth-placed finish to qualify for the Champions League under Glasner.
He joined RB Leipzig in 2022, lifting the German Cup and German Super Cup in 2023, and twice helping the German side reach the Champions League Round of 16.
Image from Transfermarkt
An ACL injury forced him to miss the 2024 Euros, but he played in all four matches at this summer’s World Cup, with 55 appearances for his country in total.
“He’s a leader, with years of experience playing at the highest level in Europe, and there is a strong feeling he has all the attributes to make an immediate impact on the team. Xaver enjoyed a successful period with Oliver at Wolfsburg, which will help him integrate into the squad and gives him an understanding of the demands that will be set on the players.” – George Syrianos, chief footballing officer of Nottingham Forest
ANY GOAL THREAT?
With seven goals and 14 assists from his 150 German top-flight appearances, Schlager is not known for his end product, although he did score in Forest’s recent 2-1 friendly win over Portimonense.
| Season | Team | League starts (sub apps) | Goals | Assists |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025/2026 | RBL | 21 (5) | 3 | 1 |
| 2024/2025 | RBL | 2 (2) | 0 | 0 |
| 2023/2024 | RBL | 29 | 0 | 5 |
| 2022/2023 | RBL | 16 (6) | 1 | 1 |
| 2021/2022 | Wolfsburg | 13 (1) | 0 | 1 |
| 2020/2021 | Wolfsburg | 30 (2) | 2 | 4 |
| 2019/2020 | Wolfsburg | 21 (2) | 1 | 2 |
ANY DEFCON POTENTIAL?
Having seemingly been recruited to fill the Elliot Anderson-shaped (£6.5m) hole in Forest’s midfield, defensive contribution (DefCon) points feel more likely.
However, he only averaged 9.79 contributions per 90 minutes last season – a long way short of the eye-popping figures recorded by Brentford’s new midfielder, Mamadou Sangare (£5.5m).
Not a name to seriously consider in FPL, then, even he if does force his way into regular starter status – which isn’t guaranteed.
