At the moment it is not known where Max Eberl is staying. However, one can assume that he currently needs less WiFi, less mobile data and less telephone network than in the July months of previous years. Eberl was one of the Bundesliga managers who had pushed their business so far in July that colleagues gave him the nickname “Streberl”.
But even Eberl couldn’t be completely finished in July. He could have done what was in his power (i.e. bring in new players, extend with old players), but there was one thing he couldn’t do: wake up the English. They were often still asleep in July, and they did so with the reassuring knowledge that the millions from their gigantic television contracts were enough to still be attractive at the end of August.
Depending on the club, they set the alarm for August 15 or 20, and then, presumably after a breakfast of small fried sausages, gradually got to work. It is a sacred tradition in England that many Premier League clubs only make transfers just before the closing date on 31 August, and there have occasionally been players from Max Eberl’s Gladbacher Borussia.
Although Eberl has temporarily said goodbye to the industry and shed numerous tears, it should comfort him that the Max Eberl logic still applies in the Bundesliga. Eberl made a lot of smart decisions, but his best transfers were not to Gladbach, but away from Gladbach. He once turned Arsenal midfielder Xhaka on for 45 million euros, for defender Vestergaard he stole 25 million from Southampton FC – sums that were well above what a neutral calculation program would spit out as a market value.
Ideally, this income can be used to compensate for the Corona failures and at the same time supplement the player squad
As is well known, even the bottom of the table in the English Premier League collects more from TV marketing (125 million) than FC Bayern (105 million/as of the 2020/21 season) or even Arminia Bielefeld (34 million), and so the pandemic has Logic made even more logical for the time being. Even FC Bayern, who are not very needy, have just used this strategy and had Nottingham Forest transfer them a surprising ten million for defender Omar Richards; previously, the newly promoted Premier League had generously sponsored Union Berlin (20 million for striker Awoniyi) and Mainz 05 (10 million for defender Niakhaté).
It is now more advisable than ever for the German Bundesliga clubs not to complain about the superiority of the English, but simply to take their money. Ideally, these millions can be used to compensate for the loss of income during the Corona period and at the same time supplement the squad, as not only Union Berlin and Mainz 05 demonstrate in a style-defining way, but now also VfL Bochum.
Bochum recently had Southampton force them to ten million for their defensive talent Armel Bella-Kotchap and thus achieved a club-internal record income – in return they announced the signing of a new defender on Sunday. Due to a special FIFA rule for Russia, Ukraine international Ivan Ordez comes from Dynamo Moscow. Free transfer.