At the start of last season, Anrie Chase (21) was considered a possible future solution for VfB Stuttgart’s central defense. Now the Japanese player is leaving the club.
As VfB announced on Friday morning, Chase is moving from VfB Stuttgart to Red Bull Salzburg. According to reports, the Swabians are receiving a transfer fee of around two million euros for the 21-year-old defender. According to Salzburg’s sporting director Rouven Schröder, the Austrians prevailed against “renowned competition” in the race to sign Chase.
“Anrie has made a remarkable journey with us from the youth team to the DFB Cup, the Bundesliga and the Champions League,” said Stuttgart’s sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth. “Anrie has earned this development with great diligence and a willingness to learn. We thank him for his time with us and wish him all the best and every success for the future.”
Chase moved to VfB from his native Japan in 2022 and initially only played for the second team. His performances in the Regionalliga Südwest eventually earned him a place in the professional squad, where he was called up at the start of last season due to a personnel shortage and was considered a promising prospect for the future. He made his Bundesliga debut on the first matchday of last season in a 1-3 defeat in Freiburg, and three days later he was in the starting line-up for the first time in the DFB Cup opener in Münster.
Chase played a total of twelve Bundesliga games for Stuttgart in the first half of the season, but still showed some weaknesses – his average rating was 4.17. He also made three appearances in the DFB Cup, scoring his only goal for the professional team in a 3-0 win in Regensburg. Chase made a total of five appearances in the Champions League, with his substitute appearance in the 1-4 defeat to Paris St. Germain at the end of January being his last game for VfB’s professional team. In the second half of the season, Chase initially played for the second team again, but in March he was ruled out for the rest of the season with a torn muscle fiber.
In Salzburg, Chase can now hope for further Champions League appearances: The Austrians are currently in the qualifying rounds for the competition and will face Belgian side Club Brugge in the third round – albeit without Chase. According to Schröder, Chase will only be “fit to play again during the first half of the season” after the injury he suffered in March.