Knows coach from U19
©IMAGO
Last Saturday, Linus Güther made history at Union Berlin when he became the second youngest Bundesliga debutant at the age of 16 years and three days. After his first professional appearance, the left winger also received his first market value of one million euros.
“I’m relatively sure that we won’t stop the boy,” the now-sacked Steffen Baumgart said before kick-off and then helped Güther make his debut in the 87th minute in the 1:3 against 1. FC Heidenheim. The seven-figure starting market value illustrates the great talent of the U16 national player – only an exclusive group of 20 German professionals received such a high valuation immediately after their professional debut at a maximum of 17 years old. Players like Gladbach’s Wael Mohya and Bayern’s Filip Pavić started at the same level.
The chances of further appearances with the Union professionals are unlikely to have diminished even after Baumgart’s dismissal. Marie-Louise Eta, who is the first woman to take over as coach of a Bundesliga club, already knows Güther from Union’s U19 team. However, in seven appearances he remained without a goal involvement.
Union Berlin: Eta could remain a coach beyond the summer
It is not yet clear how long Eta will stay with the Iron men’s team. However, managing director Horst Held emphasized that she can certainly hope for a long-term commitment. “At this point in time, it wouldn’t make sense to rule anything out. We basically have a plan for what happens next. But we’ll see about that,” he said.
The takeover is initially limited to the remaining five games at the end of the season. In eleventh place in the table, the Berliners are seven points ahead of the relegation zone. On Saturday (3:30 p.m.) Eta will sit on the bench as boss for the first time against VfL Wolfsburg. In 2023, Eta had already stepped in as an interim assistant for the men’s team. For the coming season she is actually supposed to take over the women’s team as head coach in the Bundesliga.
Heldt added that there had not yet been any discussions with women’s managing director Jennifer Zietz about the new personnel situation. Either he or Zietz would certainly have to present a new head coach for the coming season, said the 56-year-old and left everything open. At the same time, Heldt assured that personnel planning will begin soon. “It makes no sense at all to waste four weeks in the country and not have any discussions. But we will certainly tackle that at some point in our calm time,” he said.
