Friday, April 30, 2021 at 10:00 AM• Dominic Mostert

Roger Schmidt would be a suitable trainer for Eintracht Frankfurt, says sports director Bruno Hübner. The Bundesliga club policymaker makes an interview with Fussball News no secret of his appreciation for the current PSV coach. However, Hübner is aloof in the search for a new trainer, as he will leave as director after this season. “That is the task of those who will be in charge in the future”, Hübner makes clear. Eintracht is looking for a successor to Adi Hütter, who will go to Borussia Mönchengladbach for 7.5 million euros.

Schmidt’s operations have been monitored in Frankfurt for many years. When Eintracht was looking in the spring of 2014 for a successor to Armin Veh, who switched to VfB Stuttgart after three seasons, Schmidt was in the picture. In the end, however, he chose Bayer Leverkusen. “I have met Roger several times and also spoke by phone”, Hübner recalls. “We were relatively far. I had traveled to Austria for the Champions League match between Red Bull Salzburg (the then club of Schmidt, ed.) And FC Basel. I was stunned that Michael Reschke (then director of Leverkusen) was sitting in front of me Roger went to Leverkusen on the basis of little things. ”

Although Hübner does not actively take care of the search for a new trainer, he admits that he is still very fond of Schmidt. Roger is an absolute expert. He is a fanatic when it comes to attacking football, he is full of ambition and lives for football. The conversations with him have always been constructive. trainer that I could easily imagine at Eintracht. ” Players such as Stefan Ilsanker and Martin Hinteregger worked under Schmidt at Salzburg, are now active at Eintracht and in the past praised both the trainer’s qualities and the human side of the trainer.

There are also reportedly doubts in Frankfurt about the same ‘human side’. Schmidt is seen as someone who cannot always control his emotions from the sidelines. In Germany he got into verbal confrontations with referee Felix Zwayer and fellow trainer Julian Nagelsmann; in the Netherlands his quarrel with arbitrator Bas Nijhuis was widely reported. However, Hübner sees no problems in that regard and continues to argue for Schmidt’s arrival. “He is a real specialist, a top trainer. And a top person. I can only say good things about him.” Eintracht is currently fourth in the Bundesliga and is thus virtually qualified for the group stage of the Champions League.

Thursday reported BILD that Eintracht has in any case removed Erik ten Hag from the list of candidates. The salary wishes of the coach of Ajax would be too high. The newspaper wrote that Oliver Glasner (VfL Wolfsburg), Pellegrino Matarazzo (VfB Stuttgart), Urs Fischer (1. FC Union Berlin) and Schmidt are still in the picture. However, Glasner can also return to Austria to succeed Jesse Marsch at Red Bull Salzburg. Marsch goes to RB Leipzig. Schmidt said a week ago that he did not want to comment on the rumors. “In Germany many clubs are looking for a coach, but I’m not going to respond to rumors every time. His contract with PSV will continue for another year.