OFFICIAL: Rasmussen loaned to Erzgebirge Aue

Lost in the shuffle of yesterday’s famous win over Serie A titans SPAL was the news that defender Jacob Rasmussen has been loaned to Erzgebirge Aue of the 2. Bundesliga for the rest of the season. If you missed the news (aside from Hesanka mentioning it in the comments), don’t be alarmed: Fiorentina didn’t even bother to make an official announcement, so we’re counting on the German outfit to confirm this for us.

Rasmussen has already had a bizarre Fiorentina career. Bought last year from Empoli for 7 million and immediately loaned back until this June, he caught some sort of serious illness (possibly mono?) that kept him out of action through Moena. He only made the matchday squad a handful of times for the Viola, although he did wind up making 5 starts with the Primavera as part of his rehab; perhaps due to the long layoff, he looked awfully shaky.

The 22-year-old Danish youth international certainly looks the part: tall, strong, and quick across the ground, he’s got every tool you could ask for, including the ability to play on the left or even in midfield as well as at his more natural spot in the heart of the defense. However, many Viola fans wondered why the club had paid so much for a defender who couldn’t even push aside the likes of old men Matías Silvestre and Domenico Maietta or journeyman Freddie Veseli to start for a defense that conceded 70 goals in Serie A.

There’s no word on if this loan is of the dry variety or if the Saxon outfit will have an option to buy him at season’s end. With a contract that runs until 2023, he could become a player like Sebastian Cristoforo: never really a part of the first-team picture in Florence but too expensive to sell for nothing, drifting from loan to loan for half a decade until he’s a free agent, leaving us all wondering about what could have been.

On the plus side, you’d have to think that he’ll be an automatic starter in the German second tier; while Transfermarkt’s player valuations are far from being gospel, the website rates his value as at least three times that of any of his new teammates. Hopefully, he’ll take the rest of the year to ball out in the 2. Bundesliga (where he’s got some experience following a year at St. Pauli) and force his way back into the Viola’s plans; with Federico Ceccherini likely headed towards the exit door and Luca Ranieri maybe set for a return to Serie B, it’s not like there’s a lot of depth behind the starting back line in Florence. Too, Rasmussen can get more comfortable wearing purple, as Erzgebirge Aue also wear the world’s loveliest color.