With DFB debut “very dissatisfied”
© Imago
Namdi Collins experienced his national team debut on September 4, but went under at 0-2 in Slovakia and had to leave the square after a weak first half. The 21 -year -old defender of Eintracht Frankfurt also tries to take positive things from the disappointment. “I spoke a lot to people around me. They told me that I should be proud of myself and my way, even if it wasn’t as I hoped. Actually, these people are always right. Nevertheless, I was very dissatisfied,” said Collins in an interview with the “kicker”, which was led together with his teammate Nathaniel Brown (22).
Collins wants to stay tuned and recommend for further DFB operations through good performances. “I was able to have great experiences, get to know a lot of top players and also a top trainer. Nevertheless, I have the right to perform myself to recommend myself for the next courses or the World Cup. And I was not as successful as I had hoped for. Of course there were also some things that were still unusual for me. Not satisfied, ”said the native of Düsseldorf.
Collins changed from Borussia Dortmund II to Frankfurt in August 2023 and has increased its market value since then in several steps from 750,000 to EUR 10 million. At the Hesse he has a long -term contract until 2030. While he was under national coach Julian Nagelsmann due to a lack of alternatives on the right, he is called up in the defense center at the SBU. “He said that it may not necessarily be the best for him that I play mainly in the club as a central defender,” said Collins with a laugh at the exchange with Nagelsmann. The coach told him “that I should just go on, as before. And that I shouldn’t let me get too much on me, what happens in the media”.
This was missing Collins at BVB – impressive meeting with Mourinho
The right foot was trained at BVB between 2016 and 2023-and at that time could actually imagine nothing more than the black and yellow. Therefore, he also left him cold from Chelsea and Manchester City. “Back then I really wanted to pack it at BVB. Back then I only had eyes for Dortmund, that was my dream. But then the move to Frankfurt came, about which I am very happy,” reveals Collins. “It was not so easy. Eintracht is always very open and transparent. I am a guy who needs honesty to know what I am and where I have to improve. There were also many conversations in Dortmund, but I was never said in concrete terms: ‘You can do this better by doing this or that.’
He always showed performance in the offspring, “kept my mouth and continued. I am not a guy who pours and says that he no longer feels like. I also played in the 3. League and always gave it full throttle. But I am far from kicking off against anyone. Because the time in Dortmund was also an educational time that I don’t want to miss.” In 2023 Collins was also in exchange with the then Roma coach José Mourinho. “It was impressive, he has a special aura. But I decided to make it in Germany.”