First appearance in Leipzig
Old criticism does not stand in the way of Eberl’s new life
12/09/2022, 4:47 p.m
He has “a lot of energy” again: After his eleven-month break, Max Eberl is back in professional football. He really enjoyed bratwurst and beer with the amateurs, the Gladbach chapter was closed. Now the new lawn ball sports manager is enthusiastic about the structures in Leipzig.
Dressed all in black, with a smile on his face, Max Eberl took a seat – and made it clear: “I have a lot of energy again.” Almost eleven months after his emotional farewell to Borussia Mönchengladbach, as Managing Director Sport at RB Leipzig, he is back in the middle of the football circus and feels more than ready for it.
Because since he left the Bundesliga stage at the end of January, “a lot has happened,” Eberl reported at his presentation. The break was “an extremely interesting process”: “I had the best time of my life, even if it was very emotional.” He was worried “that I broke with football,” said Eberl. But he quickly realized: “Football is what you want.” He “enjoyed watching amateur football with bratwurst and beer a lot”, but he “didn’t follow that much” the Bundesliga and international competitions.
That has now changed – even earlier than expected. Already two weeks before his originally planned start date, the long-standing sports director of the foals had started his work at the DFB Cup winner on December 1st and after Oliver Mintzlaff left the Red Bull Group, he also completed the management around Florian Hopp and Johann Plenge .
Things he dreamed of in Gladbach
“The first few days were very intense,” reported the 49-year-old: “It’s also a big step for me, I was at a different location for 23 years.” He is now looking forward to the new task. That was unthinkable in January, when Eberl said goodbye to Gladbach in tears and mentally exhausted. “At some point you got to the point where you were dead, where you were tired,” he mused. “It was a time when I had to stop as a person.”
The fact that he is now going back into business in Leipzig of all places caused displeasure, especially among Gladbach supporters. Eberl himself had also criticized his new employer in the past. There was nothing to be heard of that during his performance – quite the opposite. Leipzig offers “incredible” opportunities and conditions: “These are things that I dreamed of being able to have one day in Gladbach,” said Eberl. But there were structures there too that worked very well “and I’ll try to bring them in here.”
The Gladbach chapter is “now closed” for him, emphasized Eberl, who wants to look ahead. The winter transfer window should be quiet, Eberl does not expect any major changes in personnel. That could change in the summer, because there is “extremely great interest” in goalscorer Christopher Nkunku, while midfielder Konrad Laimer is “very unlikely” to stay.
However, that shouldn’t deter him from his goal of celebrating “the greatest possible success” with the club. With Bayern you have “an almost overwhelming opponent”. RB meets him right after the break on January 20th: “Maybe the first challenge will come then,” said Eberl.