When former Wolfsburg coach Daniel Bauer declared in January that "the team, the collective, comes above everything," he was sending a clear message. That message was directed squarely at top scorer Mohamed Amoura, who was dropped from the squad for disciplinary reasons. Fast forward to last weekend against Bayern Munich, and history repeated itself: Amoura was benched again, with Lovro Majer also missing from the starting lineup. These two cases expose the same underlying issue at Wolfsburg—a club struggling to balance individual talent with team harmony.
Amoura is a goal-scoring machine on match days, but his off-field behavior has become a recurring headache. According to kicker, he clashed with Leandro Paredes before the Bayern game, leading to both players being left out. Current coach Dieter Hecking didn't mince words when speaking to Sky: "In situations like that, there are no two opinions. Discipline has to be there, and in that moment in training, it wasn't." This marked the second time this season Amoura has been banished from the squad for similar reasons—and kicker reports he was also involved in a serious altercation with full-back Joakim Maehle toward the end of last season.
Despite scoring eight goals in a crisis-hit campaign where Wolfsburg spent €68 million on transfers (per transfermarkt.de) only to slide into a relegation battle, Amoura has become a constant source of unrest. His behavior hardly fosters a positive team atmosphere when every point matters.
The situation with Lovro Majer tells a different but equally troubling story. The versatile Croatian has been completely frozen out under Hecking, playing just 106 minutes since the 61-year-old took charge. In the brutal fight to avoid the drop, Hecking is turning to other players—a stark reality for a player who, at €25 million, remains the third-most expensive signing in club history.
Majer never fully justified that price tag. In his first season at Wolfsburg, he managed a respectable five goals and five assists, but the following year was derailed by muscle injuries. This season, he recorded five goal contributions in the first half, but since Matchday 17, he hasn't registered a single goal involvement. With Wolfsburg still facing the threat of direct relegation, these two faces of the crisis—one disruptive, one invisible—highlight a club in desperate need of stability, both on and off the pitch.