Basel's captain and record player Fabian Frei is returning to his youth club Winterthur with immediate effect after 20 years.
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- Fabian Frei is moving from FC Basel to FC Winterthur.
- The 35-year-old is FC Basel's record player with 543 appearances. However, he no longer played a major role in the current season.
- Basel is apparently terminating Frei's contract and paying off the midfielder.
- In an emotional farewell video, Frei says:
The 35-year-old from Thurgau has terminated his contract with FC Basel, which is valid until 2025, and is moving to Super League rivals from the Zurich agglomeration on a free transfer with immediate effect. The clubs made the announcement on Monday.
Although Frei is from eastern Switzerland, he was one of FC Basel's identification figures. He moved to the FCB youth ranks back in 2004 after playing in Frauenfeld and Winterthur. The 24-time Swiss international made his first-team debut in 2007 and has since played 543 competitive games for the Bebbi, making him Basel's record player ahead of Massimo Ceccaroni (452 games).
Frei's palmarès with FCB includes five league titles and three cup victories in addition to various magical Champions League nights. He played for St. Gallen between 2009 and 2011 and for Mainz in the Bundesliga between 2015 and 2018. He was no longer a regular at FC Basel this season and was only allowed to start the first game of the season - a 3-2 defeat against Lausanne-Sport. In all other games, Frei was only a substitute. FC Basel writes that Frei is leaving the club "in favor of better sporting prospects".
In Winterthur, the versatile veteran should immediately provide more stability to the team, which started the season with one win from six games under coach Ognjen Zaric.
A move to Winterthur was already on the cards weeks ago, when it was said that FCW could not afford Frei's services financially. However, as FCB terminated Frei's contract and therefore no transfer fee was due, the move went through on the last day of the transfer window. FCB are not only giving Frei away for free, they have also agreed to pay out their record player, according to "bz Basel". In other words, Frei will receive the full salary he would have received in Basel until the summer of 2025.
