There is a lot of tinkering in the arena.

Currently under high pressure, so that everything is ready on time by Sunday.

The business area of ​​the Frankfurt stadium is being cleaned up.

The intense smell of fresh paint pervades the corridors and floors.

Ralf Weitbrecht

Sports editor.

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Eintracht, host of the arena, has also given itself a new coat of paint this summer.

The latest example of the personnel change in the team is the addition of Sam Lammers.

A sympathetic, open-minded Dutchman who has invested a lot to join Eintracht.

From Bergamo to Frankfurt by car: not every professional footballer would have set out on the 700-kilometer route this way.

Lammers does.

Almost in a hurry, he left his apartment in Bergamo, packed just the bare essentials in the car and set off across the Alps.

"Eintracht Frankfurt is a big club," he said with a mixture of pride and admiration in his voice.

"I like his idea of ​​football"

Tuesday lunchtime, the presentation of the long, 1.91 meter tall Dutchman. It is the day on which, after the last four days off, Eintracht starts again with training and preparation for the demanding home game on this Sunday (3.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) against VfB Stuttgart. Lammers is fire and flame. “I had very good conversations with the coach,” he says. Although Lammers understands German well, he prefers to speak English and have someone translate for his first major public appearance.

“I like his idea of ​​football. He wanted me. ”And now he's here, the new man from whom Eintracht expects so much. "Sam is a fine, intelligent footballer," said coach Oliver Glasner a few days ago when the one-year loan deal was perfect. “He moves wisely and creates space for others. He is the target player who secures balls and participates in the game. "

Ideally with goals, because that's why they brought him from Italy.

Lammers has been stingy at Bergamo in the past season.

Two goals in 15 appearances - that's not what Lammers had in mind.

Having just arrived in Frankfurt, he is now spreading the hope that he can be expected and that his new team can count on him.

“I hope I can help the team with goals.

I am ready, I feel good. "

That was not always so.

A knee operation during his time at PSV Eindhoven in the summer of 2019 threw him back.

But the ambitious striker fought his way back, decided to move to Bergamo - and is now starting a new beginning at Eintracht.

"Play through a full season"

"The injury has long been forgotten," he said on Tuesday.

“My goal is to finally play through a full season.” As a soloist or creative partner at Rafael Borré's side?

"I can do both," he assured himself confidently.

"I'll see what I can do here in Frankfurt."

Perhaps pay attention to the flanks offered by Filip Kostic, who recently struck but again welcomed with open arms and whom Lammers described as an “extraordinary player”.

And maybe also remember the tricks and tips that Lammers discovered with his great Dutch idols.

In any case, Lammers raved about Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dennis Bergkamp, ​​two former attackers in a class of their own.

So now Bundesliga instead of Serie A. Lammers emphasized that he knew exactly what to expect.

He watched many games on TV so that he could say: “I'm not afraid of the Bundesliga.

We are a good team. ”A team that is longingly waiting for the first victory and thus the first real sense of achievement in this young season.

Lammers new bosses, coach Glasner and sports director Markus Krösche, think that the squad for the upcoming national and international tasks is “top-notch”.

With Lammers, she got the striker who wanted to join Eintracht in winter, but Atalanta vetoed it.

"But now it worked," said Lammers happily.

And his car made it across the Alps with light luggage without any problems.