New RB, instantaneous water heater for talents, wrong coaching decision – there was always criticism of Eintracht board member Markus Krösche. But a look at his work shows why Frankfurt definitely wants to extend his contract with him.
A lot of things in Frankfurt revolve around contracts. Not far from the Waldstadion on the DFB campus, German football is occupied with supplier and coaching contracts. But Eintracht also has an important decision to make: about Markus Krösche’s new contract. An exchange between the supervisory board and the executive board has taken place, and there are many indications that the working paper, which is valid until 2025, will be extended. The club is said to be optimistic that Krösche will choose Eintracht and thus against any offers from the competition, various media reports. This corresponds to information from hr-Sport.
Further collaboration would make sense – for both sides. Krösche has now put together a team according to his wishes in the staff and squad and could tackle a transfer summer for the first time without major upheaval. At Eintracht, the 43-year-old can switch gears and enjoys the trust of the committees. Krösche himself emphasized how comfortable he currently feels. And for Eintracht it would probably be the most important paper in the medium-term future. Krösche was repeatedly criticized for only putting together the team based on resale value or for making a mistake when it came to finding strikers. A look at four hotly debated points:
Striker transfers
Above all is the 95 million euro transfer from Kolo Muani to Paris. The deal was only finalized at the very last second. Krösche also regretted not having had a replacement on hand. In the certainty of a failed deal with Paris, he had already given up Rafael Borré. But why hadn’t Eintracht signed an attacker in anticipation of the Kolo Muani deal? The club’s decision-makers calculate that such a move would have cost at least 20 million euros given Kolo Muani’s price. It would have been registered on the market: Eintracht must sell!
The “replacement” Hugo Ekitiké came to the Main in the winter, but with considerable fitness deficits. At Eintracht it was said that he had not trained with the Paris team for months. Observers from France see it differently, including the PSG reporter from “L’Equipe” Loic Tanzi, when asked: “He trained with the team every day, he was only left out of tactical exercises for the upcoming games.”
Either way, at Eintracht they are convinced that Ekitiké can make up for the fitness deficit. The club had to bring in a player of his caliber at an “unusual market price” and for less than half of the salary demanded in the summer. Accordingly, both major decisions from the past transfer windows are more than understandable. “FUSSBALL 2000” discusses the (further) winter transfers in the current issue:
Upheaval
A year and a half after the European Cup triumph, sometimes only “two heroes from Seville” were left on the pitch at Eintracht. The complete change took place in record time and seemed very cold at times. When Borré, the scorer of the decisive penalty in 2022, had to train away from the team as a sales candidate just a year later, the approach also alienated many a teammate. But to be fair, it should be added that many departures from the European Cup winning team could not be avoided: Filip Kostic is said to have agreed to a change, Djibril Sow, Daichi Kamada and Evan N’Dicka wanted to change, Martin Hinteregger ended his career, that The offer for Jesper Lindström from Naples seemed too voluminous to refuse.
During Krösche’s term in office there were mistakes like Sam Lammers, Jens Petter Hauge and Lucas Alario. At the same time, Muani, Willian Pacho, Omar Marmoush and Hugo Larsson hit the ground running. Krösche countered the accusation of only relying on young players with resale value both at the press conference with Sebastian Rode and in the statement on Robin Koch’s national team nomination: “It shows that, in addition to many young players, we also have experienced national players in our ranks .” Krösche and his team now have to ensure that the axis of the experienced players Trapp-Koch-Skhiri-Götze stays longer.
Scouting
Around Eintracht, especially when Ben Manga resigned, there were repeated accusations that the club was only basing its scouting on data and no longer on live scouting. The Hessians follow both methods, as can be seen in discussions with those responsible. The strategy can be demonstrated by the transfer of Larsson. At the beginning of last year, Frankfurt were looking for a technically skilled central midfielder. The raw data from a system built by Krösche’s team with its own algorithms spat out between 20 and 30 suitable names. From this, the scouting team filtered out six candidates for Eintracht, including Larsson.
In the next step, Eintracht watched him live five times. During these sightings, the club also pays attention to behavior during substitutions or when warming up. The question: How does the player behave in the group? In the following discussions, Eintracht were able to convince Larsson to take part in the Main, so he turned down better offers from England. In late summer, Eintracht decided not to bring in another central midfielder because, based on initial impressions, Krösche & Co. trusted Larsson to be the starting eleven. According to the transfermarkt portal, Larsson’s market value rose from under ten to 28 million euros during this time – he is considered Eintracht’s most valuable player.
Coach question
Krösche was most heavily criticized for the decision against successful coach Oliver Glasner. However, according to reports, the relationship between the coach and the management and large parts of the team no longer allowed much leeway. With the enthronement of Dino Toppmöller, Krösche took a risk. This season it still seems as if Eintracht wanted too much at once: new coach, new style of play, a team in transition. There were too many construction sites for a solid foundation.
Toppmöller is valued everywhere for his tactical skills and his interpersonal skills. But the anemic performances in the cup competitions will continue to be a burden for him for a long time. However, the coach’s future is far from linked to that of the board. Krösche can boast many other successes that were not even mentioned in the points above: the generous transfer surplus, the establishment of a second team and not to forget the European Cup victory in his first season. This is also why Krösche’s contract extension is likely to be at the top of Eintracht’s agenda.
