Goalkeeper Bethke moves from Cottbus to Dresden

Second-division soccer club Dynamo Dresden has strengthened its goalkeeping position with Elias Bethke. The 22-year-old joins from third division leaders Energie Cottbus and is eligible to play in a higher division with immediate effect. The two clubs have agreed not to disclose the terms of the transfer and the duration of the new contract was not disclosed.

Dynamo's move comes in response to the injury to Lennart Grill, who suffered a serious knee injury in the 2-1 home win against Fortuna Düsseldorf at the end of November without any involvement from the opponent and will be out for months. "Elias was the best goalkeeper in the 3rd division last season and is in the notepad of several Bundesliga clubs," said Dynamo managing director Sören Gonther, "his particular strength in one-on-one situations and very good control of the penalty area set him apart and will significantly increase our competition in goal, similar to other positions."

Injury slows Bethke down

Bethke had injured himself before the surprising 1-0 win over Hannover 96 in the first DFB Cup main round and had been the undisputed regular goalkeeper until then. However, the re-signing of Marius Funk prevented Bethke from returning to the Lusatian goal. "He still has a way to go and has now been given the chance to prove himself in a higher league. Ultimately, we didn't want to stand in the way of that, also in view of the special situation here in our team," said Energie coach Claus-Dieter Wollitz.

Bethke has played for Cottbus since 2016. Born in Nauen, he has been part of the first-team squad for five years and played 104 competitive matches for Energie, in which he did not have to make a save 38 times.