“Continue to look around”
©IMAGO
There could be a change at Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer. The move from homegrown player and co-captain Rocco Reitz to RB Leipzig has already been confirmed and Franck Honorat also recently publicly flirted with leaving. However, there will not necessarily be expensive additions as replacements, as sports director Rouven Schröder explained at the press conference on Thursday.
“You can assume that we are prepared for the eventuality,” said the 50-year-old regarding Reitz’s departure, referring to the existing squad. “Jens Castrop was probably chosen as an alternative for Rocco at the time. Because they were sure that if Rocco continued to play like this, he would also have the opportunity to move on the transfer market.”
Castrop moved from 1. FC Nürnberg to Mönchengladbach for 4.5 million euros last summer and only played around half of all possible minutes. Recently, however, the performance curve showed an upward trend and to top it off, the 22-year-old scored a brace in the Rhine derby against 1. FC Köln (3:3).
As has often been the case this season, he was used on the left flank. He has also played on the right side as well as centrally in offensive and defensive roles. “Jens can of course play in many positions, he has already shown that in a variety of positions for us. He shows excellent performances, that makes us happy,” said Schröder about the South Korean international.
It is therefore quite possible that Castrop will play more often from the center next season if Reitz, the most valuable player in the squad, is gone. “You don’t always have to look for a successor with the same profile, but you can act in different ways. There are a wide variety of variants. We’ve also had games without Rocco where we did well. We’re totally flexible. And of course we’ll continue to look around.”
