Somewhat surprisingly, Bundesliga club Borussia Mönchengladbach has ended the search for a successor to Max Eberl, who has resigned, with an internal solution. Former youth coordinator Roland Virkus takes up the post of sporting director and receives advance praise from a Barca star.
“I am very happy about the trust of the club management,” said a statement on the club’s website: “For me, this new task is a great challenge, which I approach with humility and respect, but also with great joy and full of energy .”
The 55-year-old has a very prominent advocate in ex-Gladbach professional Marc-André ter Stegen. The FC Barcelona keeper, who came from the Foals youth and joined the Catalans in 2014, spoke up on Twitter after the announcement. The 29-year-old described using Virkus as a “good decision”.
“For me, you were and are an important pillar in my career,” wrote ter Stegen in the direction of Virkus: “Therefore, I am convinced that you, as an opinionated, critical and always clear person, will do a great job for the club know you inside and out.”
Finally, the Barça keeper wished the new sports director of VfL every success and “a good hand”.
Gladbach: Virkus wasn’t the first choice
Other observers were more critical than the homegrown foals. This is mainly due to the fact that Virkus was not Gladbach’s first option, as club president Rolf Königs confirmed.
After a rejection by Steffen Korell, who would like to continue working as a squad planner and scouting director on the Lower Rhine, Gladbach dealt with two external candidates. However, they canceled. Rouven Schröder from FC Schalke 04 and Dieter Hecking from 1. FC Nürnberg publicly rejected an engagement with the Bundesliga club. Now the fourth choice of foals will hold office.