The last game of this Bundesliga season against SC Freiburg has only statistical value.
After the shock of the 3: 4 at Schalke, which destroyed all hopes for the Champions League, the Frankfurt Eintracht's thoughts only turn to the new season while the wound was licking.
A few weeks ago it still seemed to some as if Eintracht was in the process of dissolving, now solid structures are emerging and a squad that is already capable of playing.
Peter Hess
Sports editor.
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With Markus Krösche, the new sports director for Fredi Bobic has been found and also an extensive solution for the successor to sports director Bruno Hübner. Head scout and squad planner Ben Manga rose to become director of professional football with enhanced competencies, and the appointment of Timmo Hardung as team manager will soon be announced. Krösche brings the 31-year-old from RB Leipzig. Originally, coach Julian Nagelsmann wanted Hardung to accompany him to Bayern, but the plan failed.
“I could have pushed through that, but it also has to make sense.
The job profile is already being filled out by other people at Bavaria, ”Nagelsmann told the specialist magazine Kicker.
The new Bayern coach praised Hardung: “He was already called sports director two when Markus (Krösche, editor) was still there.
He's got a very good job in Leipzig, and he's absorbed in it. ”Without Nagelsmann and without Krösche, Hardung lacks his valued caregivers in Leipzig.
Hardung was mainly head of organization in Leipzig, in Frankfurt he could also be a contact person for the team.
It is uncertain whether Eintracht will hire an additional manager for this task.
Silva and Kostic are in great demand
If contracts in professional football had a binding character, one could even say that Eintracht has already largely assembled its squad for the coming season. Only one contract is expiring, no player has panicked thoughts of fleeing, no professional should necessarily be sent into the desert by the club. But of course the market is on the move, and of course both the club and the players are exploring opportunities and risks. The corona pandemic and its further development represent an additional factor of uncertainty.
As of now, Frankfurt can still rely on their current squad after the summer - minus Luka Jovic, whose loan contract with Real Madrid is expiring, and Jetro Willems, whose contract is not being extended. The Dutchman was no longer used this season. In addition, Frederik Rönnow, Danny da Costa, Dominik Kohr, Rodrigo Zalazar, Dejan Joveljic and Gonçalo Paciência are returning. Furthermore, Christopher Lenz (Union Berlin), Ali Akman (Bursaspor), Diant Ramay (Heidenheim) and Fabio Blanco (CF Valencia) have already been signed. As of now, 30 professionals have an obligation to play with the Frankfurt Bundesliga club, plus the young players from their own juniors: Stendera, Otto and Irorere.
But it would be completely unrealistic to assume that the status quo will even remotely be maintained.
Supply and demand determine the degree of fluctuation.
André Silva and Filip Kostic are in great demand, Daichi Kamada and Evan Ndicka are also on many shopping lists.
The attitude of unity to it?
If you want to leave, you can go, but the fee has to be right
The club is not forced to sell professionals, but in times of great loss of income due to the pandemic, transfer surpluses are welcome.
In addition, there is great trust in the sports directorate, the director of professional football and his scouting department to adequately replace lost top performers with newcomers.
New strategy for access
Whereby the age of the new professionals hired up to now already indicates the strategy. With Lenz (26) only a seasoned professional was brought in, with Akman (19), Ramay (19) and Blanco (17) three talents who are expected to have a great career. In this relationship it will go on roughly. Board spokesman Axel Hellmann speaks of a new way of unity in order to be able to continue the upward trend. As a result of the pandemic, television revenues have fallen, ticketing has broken down, and other marketing has stagnated. The transfer market has been recognized as a new source of money. Talents are to be developed on a larger scale and resold at a profit. There are plans to loan some of them out immediately after the commitment.
But neither can the roster be inflated excessively. How many new ones come depends on how many old ones leave. In terms of more room for maneuver, Eintracht would have nothing against it if Costa and Kohr stayed in Mainz, where they had a significant share in the Rheinhessen's remaining class in the second half of the season. Goalkeeper Rönnow, Gonçalo Paciência, Steven Zuber and Ajdan Hrustic would not necessarily be persuaded to stay if there were any offers. But for all of them, as with Jovelic, Zalazar, Ache, Barkok and Touré, they have the opportunity to convince the new coach of themselves in the summer preparation.
What will the new trainer be called? That is not yet certain, but the requirements profile is clearly defined: international experience, multilingual (including German), talent developer, team player, communicative and with an affinity for the aggressive style of play and the club culture of Eintracht. Since this Wednesday it is clear: Gerardo Seoane will not. The Swiss joins Bayer Leverkusen. So the future of unity is still wide open. But the framework and the concept to make it successful already exist.