From SC Freiburg to FC Barcelona
Christian Streich worries about top talent Darvich
08/06/2023, 8:17 p.m
German U17 captain Noah Darvich is moving from SC Freiburg to big FC Barcelona. Professional coach Christian Streich is moderately pleased. He sends worried and concerned farewell words after what is probably the country’s greatest young talent.
Perhaps the greatest talent in German football was not even really gone when Christian Streich had already put together a package of worried, disappointed and embittered parting words. Addressee: Noah Darvich, 16, captain of the U17 national team, previously the jewel of the small SC Freiburg, future apprentice at the big FC Barcelona.
“The youngsters have countless role models in financial terms and in everything,” said the passionate social critic Streich, who is the coach icon of the Freiburg Bundesliga team in his main job, on Saturday after the double test against FC Empoli (2-0 and 1-2): “If When a 16-year-old sees what’s going on in football all the time, how is he supposed to keep a clear head?” The day before, it was leaked that Darvich was swapping the Breisgau football school for Barca’s legendary La Masia academy. The fact that Freiburg, after the sales of Mark Flekken (13 million) and Kevin Schade (25 million) to Brentford, is already in a solid financial position, collects up to five million in transfer fees, does not outweigh the loss.
The robust offensive player, who was born in Freiburg and came to the sports club in 2017 from the small town of Eintracht, led the German U17s to the European Championship title in June most recently in the 6-1 test against Grasshopper Zurich, when Darvich even scored. Step by step, everything down to earth. “I’m not worried about Noah in particular,” said his former DFB coach Christian Wück to the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” and further: “I know that he wants and has to do his Abitur next year – in Freiburg. He feels very much there , very well.”
That is now waste, Darvich and his environment succumbed to the charm of Barcelona. La Masia can be a springboard to a world career like Lionel Messi, but it can also be a dead end: many supposedly exceptional talents failed there. Darvich’s departure is “a great pity for the football school and the people who have invested so much in him,” said Streich: “Now we’ll see where the path leads. I hope he made a good decision in the end.”