Niels Nkounkou faces uncertain times. It cannot be ruled out that the Frenchman will leave Eintracht Frankfurt in the winter.
Frankfurt – At Eintracht Frankfurt, Niels Nkounkou is one of the players who was unable to benefit from the team's upswing. The 24-year-old was only called up to the starting eleven ten times in 23 competitive games, including five times in the Europa League. He was particularly surpassed in the Bundesliga (305 out of 1,260 possible minutes).
The summer newcomers Arthur Theate and Nathaniel Brown have clearly positioned themselves ahead of the Frenchman. A regular place seems to be a long way off. Coach Dino Toppmöller planned to nominate Brown for the knockout stages of the Europa League, which could potentially rule Nkounkou out of the competition. This would be a serious setback for him.
Nkounkou was more valuable last season than this one
Compared to last season, Nkounkou has contributed less this season. According to fussball.news information, a lack of development at Nkounkou is noted internally after 15 months of collaboration. The yellow cards that are still inserted too easily are a nuisance. But Nkounkou also lacks any consistency. Good to brilliant actions too often alternate with wild and unfocused moments. Toppmöller is often unsure what to expect from the inconsistent player.
In contrast to the previous season, the numbers are also missing this time. In the 2023/24 season, Nkounkou contributed three goals and assists each, which in theory meant nine points for Eintracht; Without his goals and assists, the club would have missed the Europa League. In the current season, however, the score is double zero. That is not enough for his own demands and those of Eintracht.
Toppmöller often has to react to yellow cards from Nkounkou
Nkounkou was also a bit unlucky. In the fall, an allergic reaction paralyzed him. And in the game against Augsburg (2-2) on matchday 13, he was in good form, but was unfairly shown a yellow card when he alerted the referee to team-mate Hugo Ekitiké's fall. After another foul, Toppmöller left him in the locker room because he was in danger of being shown yellow-red.
Five days later he was allowed to start again in the Europa League game in Lyon (2:3), but was booked early after pulling his jersey and was lucky not to be sent off shortly afterwards. It was over for him at halftime – in contrast to the Augsburg game, this time also because of his performance.
Nkounkou came to the Hessians in August 2023 for around seven million euros. He's not a flop, but the 24-year-old is one of those cases where the club has grown faster than the player. This will happen again and again, even with promising players who cost six to seven million euros. According to favorable fussball.news information, the SGE would be willing to sell in the winter if there was a suitable offer.
Does Krösche make adjustments to his original plan?
Sports director Markus Krösche's original plan was to keep the squad together until the summer. However, the possibility of reaching the top 4 and thus the Champions League on our own has increased over time. The Frankfurters are currently in third place with 27 points. It cannot therefore be ruled out that there could be changes in the coming weeks up to February 3rd. A possible departure of Nkounkou could free up space and bring in valuable millions.
The editor wrote this article and then used an AI language model for optimization at his own discretion. All information has been carefully checked.
