Back in business: Max Eberl has a lot of work ahead of him in Leipzig.
Photo: IMAGO / motivao
It probably just felt good to meet old friends. The managing directors Markus Aretz and Stephan Schippers, as well as his direct successor Roland Virkus, welcomed Max Eberl extremely happily when the new sports director of RB Leipzig had fought his way to a far corner of the old Offenbach industrial hall at the New Year’s reception of the German Football League (DFL). And perhaps the old comrades-in-arms at Borussia Mönchengladbach felt best that they were meeting someone else here – someone who had to shed a lot of baggage last year to return to the limelight with the opening game between RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich on Friday evening.
Many still find it difficult to get used to the fact that the manager, who is linked to a traditional club, is now working for a brewing club with millions in donations from an Austrian beverage company. But the native Bavarian had reached his own limits with his mission on the Lower Rhine. The 49-year-old probably chose the clearest words for his break in the podcast “Phrasenmöer”, “Sportbild” wrote down the statements. He is still moved by the emotional world he drifted into and how empty he was, said Eberl: “I never want to experience these negative emotions again. I didn’t know what to do with myself anymore.«
The helpers, in whom Eberl confided, diagnosed situational depression. He is grateful for a friend from Buenos Aires who invited him to South America. Through many conversations and small adventures such as a sailing boat trip, he found himself again. Anyone who sees Eberl today will notice that someone has slimmed down. A vital go-getter is bursting with zest for action and, looking back, asserts: “It would have been madness to continue on this path.” have ever been granted in my life. That people accuse me of lying, acting and theater and at the same time make me believe that I would use sick people to force a change of club – you can’t have more sick thoughts.«
At the same time, he does not hide the fact that the then Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff contacted him very soon after his resignation – and that there were concrete negotiations after the cup final, which were intensified in late summer. “Of course I was aware that not everyone would understand my decision to join RB. But: It’s my life,” emphasizes Eberl, at whose employer a lot has happened: Mintzlaff withdrew into the Red Bull world, just like his faithful companion Florian Scholz, who as commercial director had a lot of say. With Christopher Vivell, the squad planner hired Chelsea FC, so Eberl sees the club “in a very lean position in terms of sporting leadership”. It is possible that he is still guiding the clubless Rouven Schröder to the Cottaweg.
There is enough work in the coming weeks and months. The sporting goals are clear: Reaching a place in the Champions League again in the Bundesliga, at least putting on a decent performance in the round of 16 against Manchester City – nobody expects to progress.
At the end of the season, the farewells of several top performers are also announced. The departure of top striker Christopher Nkunku to the “Blues” seems to have been agreed, but at least a very decent fee of 60 to 70 million euros is paid for it. Midfielder Konrad Laimer, on the other hand, is moving to Bayern on a free transfer.
And then there’s precious technician Dani Olmo, with whom Spanish big clubs could get serious in the summer. England’s top clubs may be vying for World Cup discovery Joško Gvardiol. In return, significant sums would be available that could be reinvested, provided coach Marco Rose does not trample on the upward trend he himself initiated in the new year. The fact that Eberl is now working with a football coach, whom he brought to Mönchengladbach from Salzburg himself in 2019, fits the thesis that you meet again and again in this industry, not just at official receptions.
