Free transfer stars, complaining substitutes and a big minus in the balance sheet – things are going rather moderately for Eintracht Frankfurt’s next opponent.
Frankfurt – The Ur-Gladbacher, born in the city on the Lower Rhine, grew up there, lived there, worked, for more than 30 years at the local professional football club VfL Borussia, is experiencing restless days again. Basically, they have been restless since he, sporting director Roland Virkus, took over the management from Max Eberl in February 2022. It’s not primarily his fault, but it’s also because Virkus is visibly struggling in the Bundesliga shark tank.
So these days, after the win against Vfl Wolfsburg (2-0) and before the game on Saturday evening (6.30 p.m. / Sky) at Eintracht Frankfurt, some unpleasant topics popped up again around the Borussia Park in Mönchengladbach. First of all, top players Marcus Thuram and Ramy Bensebaini announced that they will leave the club at the end of the season on a free transfer, which is their right given the expiring contracts, which, however, earned them the anger of the fans. Too much anger, by the way. That’s the way business is. It is also not unusual, but disturbing for a team, that, secondly, a substitute player lets his frustration with the bank run free. Marvin Friedrich, no over-defender, complained surprisingly loudly about his supporting role via the boulevard. You can do that, but you shouldn’t.
Borussia Mönchengladbach: Stindl departure hurts
And, thirdly, the well-respected Gladbach captain Lars Stindl made his Gladbach farewell public in the summer. After eight seasons (264 competitive games, 80 goals, 61 assists) at Borussia, at the age of 34 he feels the time has come to return to his hometown of Karlsruhe, where he will move into his own home in the immediate vicinity. Whether he will add another season in league two to his youth club KSC has not yet been fully clarified, but it is likely. In any case, the time at Borussia was “the best of my life”, said the ex-national player and Confederation Cup winner from 2017. He, who stood for the club like no other professional in recent years, they cry in Borussia Park some tears for sure.
All of this means a lot of work for Roland Virkus. He will have to create a new team structure for the coming season together with coach Daniel Farke – without players like Bensebaini and Thuram of above-average quality, without executives like Stindl, without a bulging account. In the past three financial years, the Gladbacher made a minus of around 50 million euros. Every free transfer change of players therefore weighs twice as heavily. Conversely, for sports director Virkus: a difficult undertaking.
Borussia Mönchengladbach is bobbing around in the gray middle of the table
Especially since the Gladbachers are already bobbing around in the gray midfield of the table in this round, which, as currently tenth, would inevitably need a win in Frankfurt in order to possibly attack seventh place, which entitles them to the Conference League. “Eintracht has dropped out of the international places and will try everything to correct that quickly,” Virkus considers the away task to be challenging: “They will try to put us under pressure.”
The father of four, who has worked for Borussia since 1990, first as a youth coach, then as a junior manager and since 2022 with the professionals, is a pleasant guy. One that at first glance you wouldn’t associate with this tough professional business, which is both a strength and a weakness. The undisguised nature of Virkus, this approachable, affable, affable, undoubtedly creates a certain sympathy.
Is it too quiet at Borussia Mönchengladbach?
On the other hand, the 56-year-old newcomer to sports director, who prefers to eat roast pork with dumplings, listens to Ed Sheeran and is on vacation in Fuerteventura, sometimes seems as if he is finding it difficult to get the shop under control. Such Holterdiepolter appearances as once used by Max Eberl, which make an unpleasant noise but sometimes create respect in the scene, no longer exist at Borussia under Virkus. It’s quieter now – maybe too quiet? Is a traditional club that has been striving for the top for a long time saying goodbye to the gray mouse area of the Bundesliga?
A few months ago, Roland Virkus once said: “The ship is back on course, but not yet in port. My wish is that we don’t have to go through any major storms this season and that we play a quiet season that’s mainly about football.” Sounds more like administration mode than a great spirit of optimism. The recent unrest fits that. (Daniel Schmitt)