The break is over, the tough negotiations are over: Max Eberl is returning to the football business after a month-long break – almost a year after his tearful departure from Borussia Mönchengladbach. “I’m very happy that we can announce my move to RB Leipzig today. I’m grateful for the time I needed to recover and I feel ready and full of energy to want to work in football again,” said the 48-year-old. who will start his new job two weeks before the start of the winter transfer window.
RB made no statement about the term of the contract and spoke of a “long-term” deal. “With Max Eberl, we were able to fill the position of Managing Director Sport with our absolute dream candidate. We have been dealing with Max for a long time, but have always respected his difficult situation and are now very happy to be able to start working together in December,” explained Managing Director Oliver Mintzlaff.
According to reports, Leipzig will pay a transfer fee of 2.5 million euros for Eberl, who surprisingly and very emotionally announced his resignation in January after 23 years as a player and sports director at Borussia Mönchengladbach. He just wanted to “get out of the mill,” he said exhausted at the time. The manager’s contract, which was originally valid until 2026, was then suspended, and Borussia spoke of “good and fair talks” on Monday.
Anger message via stadium banner: Gladbach fans are angry with Max Eberl
Now it seems the time has come for a new task. Eberl also meets an old acquaintance in Leipzig: Eberl had already worked in Gladbach from 2019 to 2021 with coach Marco Rose, who followed the dismissed Domenico Tedesco at the beginning of September. The RB coach had already wished to see Eberl again at his official presentation. “I would be very happy if that worked,” Rose had emphasized: “Then I would have a man by my side who is good for me and us.”
Lack of understanding among Mönchengladbach fans
For Leipzig, this ends the more than year-long search for a new sports director. After Markus Krösche left Saxony in spring 2021 for Eintracht Frankfurt, the position was vacant. But Eberl’s return to the football business does not only ensure a reunion. The approaching deal had heated the minds of Borussia fans when Leipzig and Gladbach (0: 3) met on Saturday, who had insulted Eberl with a banner in addition to their former coach Rose. The Mönchengladbach fan project had sharply criticized the manager in the run-up to the game in an open letter and accused him of “acting” at the end of his tenure in Gladbach.
However, RB managing director Mintzlaff was recently certain that Eberl “used the break properly to be with himself and recharge the batteries.” Despite all the rumours, Mintzlaff emphasized that he only contacted Eberl “after his press conference in January” and met with him in the summer. “Here Max confirmed to me that he finds the prospects with us very interesting. This opened the door a bit for us and we are now very happy that together with Max we have already found the starting point of our cooperation for mid-December. “
(jk/SID)
