Eintracht and the Kostic case: "We'll open the door for him"

Markus Krösche clearly missed the target with Frankfurter Eintracht.

A squad with 23 football professionals is the declared ideal case in the Bundesliga business for the sports director.

After the end of the transfer period on Tuesday, however, it became 30. Due to their oversize, the Frankfurters now have more staff selection on paper than they would like.

“The optimal size of the squad is lower, I'll admit that.

However, we also have a few young players with us who are not yet eligible for the Bundesliga. ”The challenge of all those responsible with head coach Oliver Glasner at the top is now to“ put everything together.

We'll get it right, ”Krösche spread confidence on Wednesday.

"Perspectively" he sees Eintracht with its "exciting squad" in a position to play for the "Europa League places".

Glasner thanked the sports director for the work they had done on the transfer market with the financial possibilities of Eintracht.

“I know that Markus couldn't open a different safe every day.” For the coach, the team “is top-quality in terms of quality and human interaction”.

"Chance deserved"

Nevertheless, turbulent days with internal quarrels lie behind the Hessians. The main actor was Filip Kostic, who refused to participate in training and wanted to force his move to Lazio Rome. His plan failed crashing, the Serbian international has to stay in Frankfurt as things stand. “We will certainly have to talk about sanctions. That was certainly a misconduct on the part of the player. Filip may have overreacted a bit, ”said Krösche.

First of all, the Frankfurt-based company wants to find a common basis with Kostic for a further fruitful cooperation.

He “deserved a chance.

We'll open the door for him, ”said Glasner.

Captain Sebastian Rode agreed with the trainer: “Filip has done nothing wrong with us in three years.

We will take it up again with great pleasure. "

Krösche wants to establish contact with Kostic, who is currently on the road with the Serbian national team.

"There Filip can gain a bit of distance." When asked whether Kostic had cleared his locker in Frankfurt in the past few days, the sports director replied: "I think that's unlikely."

Krösche emphasized on Wednesday that Kostic had not received an offer from another club that complied with Frankfurt's expectations.

“My job is to protect the club and its assets.

I'm paid to create and secure values. ”Whether there were any agreements between Kostic and the former sports director Fredi Bobic does not matter to Krösche's work.

“I cannot include what was in the past in my assessment.

I have to be based on facts, ”he emphasized.

"Thats my job"

Kostic is not the only candidate for reintegration in the squad. The move from Amin Younes to Al-Shabab in Saudi Arabia also failed. With him, the situation seems to be even more tricky than with Kostic. “I wouldn't like to say anything about it” - this was Krösche's comment on the subject. According to his assessment, Glasner is now leading a squad with great homogeneity. "We have a lot of experienced players on whom the young can grow."

This creates a “beautiful unit”, says Krösche. The Frankfurt team could be "very satisfied" with the result of this transfer summer. You would now have "a lot of speed and players" who can "solve one-on-one situations". In addition, according to Krösche, Eintracht was able to “add aggressiveness to our center” with the signing of Kristijan Jakic. Not to forget in his balance sheet the final transfer of striker Sam Lammers, “who is able to combine and which makes us even more flexible offensively”.

For Krösche the bottom line means: “Overall, we have taken a step forward in terms of the variability of the squad.” This is also necessary because Eintracht has only two points after three match days. In terms of sport, there is therefore a lot of catching up to do. Nevertheless, Glasner can currently not fall back on his 13 professionals assigned to the national teams, which makes it difficult for the new team to play. "I've already thought about going on strike," said Glasner and grinned. Seriously: “That's my job.” He's not afraid of the challenge.