The press conference with Danny da Costa, for which three journalists had gathered on the main grandstand of the Bruchweg Stadium, had an unusual start.

It wasn't the media people who spoke first, it was the players.

"I want to start," he said, but not with an official statement, but with background information.

"Without the microphones, please."

It is therefore not permissible to quote from these first minutes, in which da Costa was concerned with correcting some things that had been written about his return to Eintracht Frankfurt in the summer of last year, after he had kicked for the 05ers on loan since January.

That was the part of the conversation where the otherwise easy-going 28-year-old looked serious.

When he had said what needed to be said, his expression relaxed noticeably.

Is there an official answer as to why he went back to Frankfurt at the time?

Da Costa laughed.

"First of all, you don't have to talk long about the fact that I felt very comfortable here, even if it was only four months in the end," he said.

"Eintracht Frankfurt was my employer and they insisted that I return.

And then I'm not one to go on strike, I just tried to make the best of it."

There are several factors why he was not in a much better position under Oliver Glasner than he used to be under Adi Hütter.

For example, that Eintracht struggled in the league, especially at the start of the season when Costa was in the first eleven.

And he's self-critical enough to admit: "I didn't always reach my performance limit myself." At some point he had the feeling that he was "right in it" - but that didn't match the coach's assessment.

Still, "I don't have a great grudge," says da Costa.

"I had imagined a few things differently" - nevertheless, it was fun to have taken the "absolutely brilliant" season with the Europa League triumph.

"Anyone who saw the celebrations knows that I was able to enjoy it."

Anyone who now thinks that the native of the Lower Rhine will rave to his colleagues in Mainz about the international experiences with Eintracht, possibly singing heroic stories to the guitar at the training camp fire, is wrong.

"Then I'd get punched left and right in the ears relatively quickly," he says, laughing.

"If someone asks me about it, I'm happy to tell them about it.

But I am far from saying I have experienced it and we must now attack the European pitches."

"Attacking" is a good keyword for what impressed him from day one in Mainz in January last year: "that we wanted to play bravely, no matter how hopeless the situation seemed.

It's a style of play that I think can suit me."

At the start of the pre-season, he saw that nothing had changed compared to his first engagement at Bruchweg.

"It's still about being active no matter who the opponent is," he says.

In the first unit, the announcement was that the actors would not have to show the highest tempo after the summer break.

"That lasted exactly five seconds - after that it was clear to everyone that we would increase it.

Because we can't do otherwise.

Because it's in the DNA.”

One thing, however, is fundamentally different than a year and a half ago.

Back then, Danny da Costa was the undisputed number one on the right flank straight away.

Now he's joining a team in which Silvan Widmer has played this role convincingly.

He doesn't want to talk about a competition, a line-up in which da Costa and Widmer are on the pitch together is also conceivable.

Danny da Costa has signed a three-year contract with FSV Mainz 05.

And because he is not someone “who makes a quick departure”, he also wants to move to Mainz with his wife Sarah and their 14-month-old daughter.

As a token of his full identification and for practical reasons, to get to his family faster after work.

"A year ago everyone was working from home, so you could quickly cross the autobahn.

This is no longer possible."