On Sunday, Ruven Schröder held his first meeting with the press of the new season. Before the first professional training session, Gladbach’s sporting director commented on the state of affairs in the transfer market. “It was important for us to be ahead of the wave. Now you can see one or two clubs are following suit,” Schröder said.
The club’s preparatory work, made possible largely by the sale of Rocco Reitz to RB Leipzig, has borne fruit: six of the seven summer signings took part in the first training session on Sunday at Training Ground No. 1 at Borussia Park, with only Zento Uno training individually after injury. “We believe it is very important to include everyone in every conversation from the beginning. This way you quickly get a good idea of the team and the club,” Schröder said.
The 50-year-old man has already noticed an initial effect. “With seven new guys in the dressing room, you can immediately see that one or the other is being looked at first. That’s exactly the effect we wanted to achieve,” said Schröder, adding: “We need players who push. They are all hungry guys for whom Borussia Mönchengladbach is also something special.”
Schröder emphasizes: “We have no offer”
New is the signing of number two Daniel Batz, who could become number one if Moritz Nicolas leaves. However, this should not happen. “We have a long-term contract with Moritz Nicholas. It was his wish to wear the number 1 on his back. We are happy to fulfill his wish. This shows his importance in the team. We have no offers and we are 100 percent planning for Moritz Nicholas to be number 1,” Schröder said.
He knows that anything can happen before the end of the transfer period, but the interested parties will have to dig deep into their pockets to convince Dortmund to sell Nicolas. “There will be many, many rumors and discussions until the end,” Schroeder said. First of all, the movement should be from the exit side. “We have in mind our benchmark and a certain roster size. Accordingly, some people will still have to look around,” Schroeder said.
Schröder to Neuhaus: “Excellent competition for his position”
Florian Neuhaus, Tomasz Cvankara, Nathan Ngumu, Grant-Leon Ranos and Jan Olszowski are possible candidates to leave. If they leave, Dortmund won’t necessarily add more. As for Neuhaus, Schröder said on Sunday: “He is a player who has a contract until 2027. He is part of our group. It is clear that he can offer himself. At the same time, he sees that we have a lot of competition for his position,” Schröder said.
Negotiations have already been held with Neuhaus, and new ones are expected. “He’s a decent guy, but we definitely won’t start the new season with all the current players,” Schroeder said.
At the same time, he emphasized: “The market has not yet begun to develop. I can’t wait to see what he looks like when the World Cup finals are over.” Then things should get interesting, especially when it comes to Elvedi’s staff.