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The squad is too big

Gtanned, relaxed and thirsty for action: Oliver Glasner has been back in town since Sunday. Back in Frankfurt, back at Eintracht, which he led to the greatest success in the club’s history by winning the Europa League. This Tuesday, at the official start of training at 11 a.m., the coach will be back in the middle of his team, which has changed its face in a number of positions and with which Glasner has an all-encompassing goal: “Get better.”

That’s what the 47-year-old coach said on Monday at his first official press conference in preparation for the new season. Better than last eleventh in the Bundesliga. Better than the last eliminated club in the first round of the DFB Cup. And in the Champions League, in which Eintracht is allowed to present itself for the first time in its club history? Glasner keeps it with sports director Markus Krösche. Get through the group stage first and then see what’s possible.

“Tingling and Anticipation”

Glasner returned to Frankfurt with a “big smile on his face” after a five-week vacation, he said. “Pingling and anticipation are there.” Eight new professionals have joined Eintracht in the past few weeks. “As of today,” said Glasner, he would be satisfied with what manager Krösche has committed. “Provided we don’t lose any more regular players.”




This can still happen. For weeks it has been expected that Filip Kostic, for example, will leave the club and start a new sporting and economic challenge at Juventus Turin. Alone: ​​Kostic is still with Eintracht – as are Evan Ndicka and Daichi Kamada. “You never know what’s going to happen next,” Glasner said. The transfer window closes on September 1st. Until then, the personnel merry-go-round can indeed get a bit moving.

“Mario finds himself here with us”

Kostic, like goalkeeper Kevin Trapp, is expected in training on July 7th, Kamada on July 5th, as Glasner emphasized. The coach is happy to have old and new players around – including 2014 World Champion Mario Götze. “We want to integrate his strengths into our system,” said the Eintracht coach. “He brings a lot of experience with him. I explained to him how we want to play football. This convinced him that it is a really cool project. Mario finds himself here with us.”

Win players for the common cause, let them become one with the system: It was something similar last season, when Ansgar Knauff from Dortmund came to Eintracht, for example. “Ansgar has pace and depth,” said Glasner. “So the question for us was: How can we integrate that and what can we do to improve his defensive behavior?” Considerations that now also apply to Götze and the others who have joined Eintracht in conviction in Frankfurt to take another career step.

The squad is too big

The day before the start of training, Glasner said that one guiding principle was always in the foreground: “What else can we tease out?” The Frankfurt squad currently consists of 30 professionals – 27 field players and three goalkeepers. Glasner thinks “that we have strengthened ourselves fantastically”.

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