What does Donny van de Beek actually do? Haven’t heard or seen anything for a long time from the Dutchman who, in football terms, was supposed to bring the stars out of the sky for Frankfurt. But nothing came of it. A few appearances just for Eintracht – that’s it so far. In the last three Bundesliga games, the midfielder, who turned 27 in mid-April, has not had the ball at all.
The professional on loan from Manchester didn’t play a single game from start to finish for his new club. In mid-January, when van de Beek made his debut for Eintracht in the surprising 1-0 away win in Leipzig, his superiors praised him.
Sports director Markus Krösche took courageous action during the winter transfer period when he had the chance to guide van de Beek to Eintracht. Equipped with a purchase option, the Dutchman was loaned out until the end of the season – and before he even arrived in Frankfurt there were high hopes for him.
No assist, no scorer point
“Donny fits our game idea perfectly and is an important piece of the puzzle for our team,” said Krösche in a kind of New Year’s message, as the loan deal was finalized on January 1st. “He brings a wealth of international experience that our young players will benefit from. Donny exudes a goal-scoring threat and, above all, should put our attackers in promising positions.”
The result to date: no assist, no scorer point, nothing. Will the turnaround still succeed? This Tuesday there is once again the opportunity to watch Dino Toppmöller’s team do their playful work on the practice field. Donny van de Beek should also be there. It is important for the coach and his team to prepare for the final spurt.
Six games left, including four matches against the top four in the table: Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich, VfB Stuttgart and RB Leipzig. “A brutal remaining program,” said Kevin Trapp after the 1-1 draw against Werder Bremen. The goalkeeper has been one of the Eintracht professionals who have fulfilled their performance potential in recent games.
Trapp is confident that something will happen when he returns to Europe again. He has respect for the upcoming trials, but not fear. “We are not cannon fodder. We can win too.” For example on Saturday (6.30 p.m. in the FAZ live ticker for the Bundesliga and on Sky) in Stuttgart. Under the guidance of coach Sebastian Hoeneß, VfB is one of the positive surprises of this season alongside the upcoming champions Leverkusen and the indomitable newcomer Heidenheim.
Nevertheless, Eintracht has good memories of their last competitive game in the Baden-Württemberg state capital. In the last DFB Cup campaign we managed a 3-2 victory a good year ago. The semi-final victory paved the way to Berlin. It was one of the last games of the then Eintracht coach Oliver Glasner. Can his successor Toppmöller pull off a similar coup?
Ralf Weitbrecht Published/Updated: Published/Updated: Ralf Weitbrecht, Frankfurt Published/Updated:
Sports director Krösche also used the last few days surrounding the draw against Werder and the associated general dissatisfaction in the area to strengthen Toppmöller’s position for the future. “We took advantage of the opportunity to restructure the squad so that we can be successful in the next few years. We brought in a young coach. It is taken into account that all these changes take time. Blaming Dino alone and criticizing him alone wouldn’t be right.”
Toppmöller is looking forward to VfB – and van de Beek is looking forward to being there again in a different role at some point.
