Bayern Munich

Essentially this is the team that dominated last season with the only additions being a few players returning after loan spells at other clubs last season, most notably Toni Kroos who was part of Germany’s World Cup squad. At the same time the only first team player to leave has been Luca Toni who made just two appearances for Bayern last season.

Schalke

There have been a lot of changes for Schalke this summer with the departure of four defenders, including three of last season’s first choice back four. In the past two seasons Marcelo Bordon has played 47 of 68 matches with a PPG of 1.85 compared to 1.33 without him, and even if they maintain the 1.75 PPG they had in the four games he missed last term they’d still finish six points worse this season.

Also out are his fellow Brazilian Rafinha, who has missed just nine games, as has Heiko Westermann who has gone to Hamburg. Furthermore their leading scorer from the past five seasons Kevin Kuranyi, has moved to Russia, and in the seven matches he’s missed in the past two years Schalke have scored just seven times.

However, several big names have arrived with Raul the biggest of all. The Real Madrid legend has played only 41 of Madrid’s 76 games in the past two seasons and while he’s scored 19 times, they’ve had a 26% higher PPG without him. Joining him at Schalke from Real is Christoph Metzelder who has made just 10 appearances in the past two seasons. Tim Hoogland also returns to Schalke after enjoying a good opening half to last season with Mainz before injury ended his season.

Werder Bremen

Bremen have suffered the most high profile departure in the Bundesliga with Mesut Ozil heading to the Bernabeu. The German playmaker has missed 19 of Bremen’s 68 games in the past two seasons with their PPG falling from 1.65 with him to just 1.32 without – a 20% drop. Furthermore, in this time their average goals scored has fallen by 26%.

While they’ve not suffered any other key departures, they’ve also failed to replace Ozil as of yet, and a 20% drop in PPG from last year’s total would give them just 49 points and leave them out of the European places.

Leverkusen

Bayer have had to let Toni Kroos return to Bayern, however, they’ve signed Michael Ballack from Chelsea and Hanno Balitsch from Hannover. Ballack was a highly significant performer for Chelsea last season as he played 26 of their 38 games with a PPG of 2.54 compared to just 1.67 without him. Balitsch is another midfielder and he’s played 50 of Hannover’s 68 games in the past two seasons with a PPG of 1.12 compared to just 0.94 – if he could replicate that increase Leverkusen would be serious title challengers.

Dortmund

There have been no major signings or departures at Dortmund to date.

Stuttgart

Stuttgart lost Sami Khedira to Real Madrid this summer, as well as seeing Alyaksandr Hleb’s return to Barcelona and the retirement of Jens Lehmann. Lehmann has missed just three games in the past two seasons while Khedira’s played 45 of their 68 matches in this time, although Stuttgart had only a marginally better PPG with him than without him. However, it should be noted that the German midfielder has mostly played in Stuttgart’s hardest matches and in the past two terms against top-half opposition they’ve averaged 1.62 PPG with Khedira compared to just 1.43 without. Assuming 18 matches over the season against top-half opposition this equates to losing three points over the season.

In return, they’ve signed Christian Gentner from Wolfsburg who’s been a key part of that midfield in the past two seasons as he’s missed just eight games during which they’ve won only seven points.

Hamburg

Jerome Boateng has headed to the riches of Manchester City but Hamburg have actually fared better without the German international as they’ve had a PPG of 1.86 in the 35 matches he’s missed in the past two years compared to just 1.45 in the 33 he’s played.

To replace Boateng Hamburg have signed influential defender Heiko Westermann from Schalke and Dennis Dirkmeier from Nurnberg, who was a first choice member of their defence last year.

Wolfsburg

Steve McClaren’s side have been one of the biggest spenders this summer, with no major departures and the signings of Simon Kjaer from Palermo and Arne Friedrich from Hertha Berlin.

Kjaer played 56 of Palermo’s 76 games in the past two years with a loss rate of just 29% compared to their 40% without him. As a result their PPG was 10% higher when he played – an increase that should get Wolfsburg back into contention for a European place this year.

Mainz

Mainz have lost Tim Hoogland to Schalke while they’ve made do with a few loan signings in replacement. In the 18 games Hoogland missed last season Mainz averaged 1.33 PPG and if that had been replicated for the whole year they’d have collected two fewer points.

Frankfurt

They’ve lost Christoph Spycher and Selim Teber from last year’s team but while both were first team regulars they were not particularly key players.

In return they will be hoping that Theofanis Gekas can produce the sort of form that made him the top scorer in Euro qualifying for the World Cup.

Hoffenheim

They’ve released Timo Hildebrand who’s failed to fulfil the potential he showed in goal in the early part of his career, but otherwise this is the same team they had last year.

Monchengladbach

Monchengladbach have kept the team that helped them survive last season and added the signing of Freiburg’s top-scorer Mohammadou Idrissou, who hit the net nine times last season in 30 appearances, while without him Freiburg scored just once in four games.

Koln

Koln have released Maniche, who played 26 of their 34 matches last season, although they averaged slightly less than one point per game with him compared to picking up 13 in the eight he missed.

Freiburg

Freiburg have lost Idrissou to Monchengladbach and given they scored just once and earned only three points in the four matches he missed last term they will need to improve this season as 0.75 PPG gets them to just 26 points and almost certain relegation. Also on his way out is Korean defender Cha Du-Ri, who has moved to Celtic, but he was only a bit-part player last season.

However, they’ve signed Jan Rosenthal, who while injured for most of the past two seasons at Hannover has helped them conceded just 1.44 goals per game in his 16 appearances, compared to 2.17 in the 52 he’s missed.

Hannover

Along with Rosenthal, Hannover have lost the services of Elson, Arouna Kone, Hanno Balitsch, Vinicius, Stajner and Durica from the squad that finished last season. Elson and Kone were on loan at Hannover for 14 games at the end of last season and both attackers helped the team’s scoring rate as Hannover found the net in six of the seven games Elson played compared to just three of the seven he missed.

Balitsch’s departure to Leverkusen is likely to be the most significant with the midfielder having played in 50 of their 68 games in the past two seasons with a PPG 19% higher when he was in the side. If they repeat the 0.94 PPG they’ve had without him in this time they will still get 32 points over the season, which would leave them in a tight relegation battle.

To tighten their defence up Hannover have signed Emanuel Pogatetz, who was only an occasional player for Middlesbrough in the Championship last season.

Nurnberg

Nurnberg have lost several players from the team that survived last season, with a number of loan players returning to their parent clubs including Andreas Ottl who played all 17 of the matches he was available for after moving from Bayern in the second half of the season. Also leaving is Dennis Dirkmeier who has gone to Hamburg and missed just six games last term.

Once again Nurnberg will be relying on loan signings to boost their squad.

Kaiserslautern

The Red Devils have gambled by signing several youngsters with little experience and will be hoping a couple can come off to help them survive their first season back in the top flight.

St Pauli

St Pauli have kept the team that earned them promotion and added to it with Carlos Zambrano joining from Schalke and Moritz Volz joining on a free. Zambrano played 13 of Schalke’s 34 games last season with an impressive W9-D3-L1 record and a PPG of 2.31, compared to Schalke’s 1.67 without him.