The 55-year-old should close the big gap that Eberl left three weeks ago with his surprising retirement for health reasons.
Gladbach remains true to itself
“He has experience in running a professional football operation, experience in squad planning, experience in dealing with coaches and players, experience in dealing with player agents and a large network. He’s the right man for this job“, Vice President Rainer Bonhof commented on the decision in favor of Virkus.
Gladbach originally had a different plan. At Eberl’s farewell, Bonhof and President Rolf Königs announced that they wanted to find an external solution and also shift responsibility to more shoulders – neither is happening now.
“We spoke to two candidates who would have suited us, but we were rejected by them. Then we looked at our list of candidates from the first and second division and from abroad and then said that we already have someone who can do it even better – and that’s Roland Virkus‘ said King.
A real Gladbacher
Virkus, who was born in Mönchengladbach, has been with Borussia since 1990 and initially worked as a youth coach for the U15, U17 and U19 teams. Since 2008 the owner of the Uefa-A-License director of the junior academy.
“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. I know that I am not alone here, but that I have a great team at my side‘ Vircus said.
Learned a lot from Eberl, but not a copy
14 years ago, Königs Eberl inherited in the junior division, now he will be his successor in the pros. “I enjoyed working under him and learned a lot, but I’m Roland Virkus. I have my own ideas and I want to incorporate them“said the new Gladbach sports director, who, like Eberl, will work with Steffen Korell as chief scout and squad planner.
Above all, he wants to focus more on his own youth again, apparently in the recent past he no longer agreed with the permeability to the professionals from his “foal stable”. “For eleven years, the three pillars have brought us success with our own youth players, external talent and experienced players“, according to Virkus. “We haven’t served two pillars like this lately: our own youth players and external talents. But that will take some time.“
Source: red/sid/dpa