How Eintracht Frankfurt's ability to develop goalscorers took them to the upper echelons of German football

Analysis

Befitting a club located in Germany's financial capital, Eintracht Frankfurt have developed in the last few years into wheelers and dealers par excellence, their ever-growing competitiveness stemming from a straightforward formula: buy low, sell high.

Of course, that is the basic ambition of almost every club. But Eintracht have proven particularly adept at recruiting inexpensively to fill the gaps, cashing in, and then developing the next batch of highly-marketable young stars. And the cycle goes on.

Eintracht's main players in this strategy - CEO Axel Hellmann, their widely-lauded group of talent-spotters and especially their much-celebrated director of sport Markus Krosche - know full well that this is a game of risk and reward, where much could go wrong. But with everyone on the same page, the strategy continues to work perfectly: profits from player sales never seem to stop rolling in and good quality replacements are always on hand to maintain the momentum.

It should not be forgotten how far Eintracht have come in recent times.

Almost relegated from the Bundesliga in 2016, surviving by the skin of their teeth in an end-of-season play-off against Nuremberg, they have been painstakingly rebuilt since. Just two years later they claimed the German Cup, followed by the Europa League in 2021-22 - their first European crown since lifting the UEFA Cup in 1980.

Meanwhile, their league standing has also continued to improve up to last term's third-place in the Bundesliga, the first time they had qualified for the Champions League via their German championship standing.

This ascent of the mountain would simply not have been possible without their excellent work in the transfer market. In the absence of Bayern Munich's major corporate sponsors or the big business parent companies at RB Leipzig and Leverkusen, Eintracht had to look elsewhere for their capital injections and that essentially means doing all they can to boost the value of the squad and transfer income.

Mission accomplished so far. Since Krosche took over from Fredi Bobic as director of sport in 2021, the total value of the squad has gone from some €73 million to €355m, while the amount of transfer profit has exploded too. Over the past six seasons, the Eagles have spent some €292m on new signings, while receiving €469m in sales.

No other club in Germany has accumulated such a financial surplus in the same period and the lion's share of the profits has originated from the sale of strikers: Luka Jovic and Sebastien Haller to Real Madrid and West Ham respectively in the summer of 2019; Andre Silva heading to RB Leipzig in 2021, Randal Kolo Muani taking the Paris Saint-Germain train in 2023 and Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike joining Manchester City and Liverpool respectively this year. This Golden Six netted the club €345m in net profit.

That they have consistently raised the bar while losing so many key players for big bucks speaks volumes for the excellence of their scouting network, the superior coaching at the club, the tremendous facilities and the vision they are able to offer a would-be recruit: use Frankfurt as a springboara to a move to a truly elite outfit.

Eintracht are not always at the head of the queue for certain players, but when they do identify someone who fits their blueprint - under 25 years old, talented yet undervalued, and with a point to prove - they get straight down to business.

Another important point to note is the absence in player contracts here of release clauses. Although buyers are aware that Eintracht have to sell to keep the plates spinning, they still have to come to the negotiating table and Krosche is renowned for driving a hard bargain, especially unwilling to compromise on valuation.

Success Stories

Hugo Ekitike

On the face of it, Eintracht made an absolute killing when selling the talented France forward to Liverpool this summer for a whopping €92m including performance-related add-ons. After all, they only paid PSG €20m for Ekitike (an initial €3.5m loan fee and an additional € 16.5m to make it permanent). But let's not forget the other numbers involved. With PSG due 20% of the Liverpool outlay via a sell-on clause, plus agent fees, a good €20m of the windfall immediately disappeared into thin air.

Nevertheless, €50m is not to be sniffed at and Eintracht certainly deserve full credit for the way they brought the best out of Ekitike in his 18 months at the Deutsche Bank Park.

Merely bench fodder during his time in Paris, the former Reims forward needed to feel wanted again and Eintracht did a wonderful job of restoring his confidence.

EKITIKE. A tiny glimpse of the brilliance. We have some player on our hands here. #HugoEkitike #LFC pic.twitter.com/AKhQ2EZWpC

— "YNWA" The Story of Liverpool FC (@LFCHistoryShow) November 5, 2025

Within a couple of months of moving to Frankfurt early in 2024, he was firing on all cylinders at the point of attack. Last season he shone constantly, first in a front two alongside Omar Marmoush and then as a lone wolf following the latter's mid-term move to Manchester City. Not only did Ekitike supply 22 goals and 12 assists in all competitions, he also hit all the right notes with high-tempo style, dribbling ability and selflessness.

Eintracht would not have qualified for this season's Champions League without his Herculean efforts

Liverpool's mega-money swoop for Ekitike was exactly what Eintracht director of sport Krosche was referring to when he declared in an interview with Sky that the Eagles were "a club in between", the archetypal medium-sized outfit, which knows its place in the food chain and does not look to buck the market. "Selling players is part of my job. I'm not emotional about it. It's just business. We are a club in between, who sell to the elite sides." It's a philosophy that attracts the right sort of talent: ambitious, talented, hungry. Players know that Frankfurt is a launch pad and in return the club gets commitment, value and proper resale potential.

Eintracht, were, of course, sorry to see Ekitike depart. Yet life goes on, as does the balancing act they seek to maintain between opportunity and survival. They see the reinvestment of the Merseyside big bucks as the cornerstone of a brighter tomorrow and as chief executive Hellmann pointed out in an interview last season with Sky Germany pundit Jan Age Fjortoft, pragmatism is the only way forward for a club like Eintracht.

"I would love him [Ekitike] to stay here for the next ten years. However we're all realistic. Hugo is one of the biggest prospects in Europe. He's a young man and has a tremendous future. And as we know: the market is the market."

Luka Jovic

The €60m sale of the Serbia striker to Real Madrid in June 2019 was the very first example of Eintracht's flair for monetising partially-fulfilled potential. Initially recruited in 2017 on a two-year loan deal from Benfica, Jovic, still a teenager on signing, took a while to find his feet in western Germany, but really came of age in the 2018-19 season with 27 goals, including 17 in the Bundesliga and ten more in the Europa League.

Eintracht triggered a purchase option for him in April 2019, paying Benfica a reported €6m. Just three months later, Madrid splashed out ten times that amount to bring him on board.

Sadly for Jovic, it did not work out at the Bernabeu and he was back in Frankfurt for a short loan spell in the second-half of the 2020-21 season. In the recent summer window, he joined Greek side AEK Athens from Milan, having also played for Fiorentina in 2022-23.

Sebastien Haller

Just a month after cashing in on Jovic, Eintracht pulled off another smart profiteering exercise. Haller was sold to West Ham United in a deal worth up to €50m, a record fee for the Hammers and quite a mark-up for a player who had cost the Frankfurter a mere €7m from Dutch outfit Utrecht in 2017.

In two seasons in Germany, the rangy French-born front-man hit 33 goals in all comps for Eintracht, including four en route to the German Cup triumph of 2017-18, and registered a fair number of assists too. Yet, barring one spectacular overhead kick against Crystal Palace, he made little impact in East London, and by January 2021 was offloaded to Ajax.

There, Haller would rediscover his prolific touch, racking up record-breaking numbers in the 2021-22 Champions League, before going on to claim the Africa Cup of Nations with Ivory Coast in February 2024.

This summer, Haller returned to old flame Utrecht on a permanent deal following less prolific spells with Borussia Dortmund and Leganes.

Andre Silva

The Portuguese striker, who Eintracht acquired on a two-year loan deal from Milan in September 2019, quickly became a big favourite with the Frankfurt faithful by scoring no fewer than 40 goals for the Eagles in two glorious Bundesliga campaigns.

By the end of Silva's first season in Frankfurt, their director of sport Fredi Bobic had seen enough and moved swiftly to offer Silva a three-year contract. No details of the costs were released at the time, though it was suggested in some quarters that the deal involved a €3m fee and Frankfurt allowing Milan to convert their loan of winger Ante Rebic to a permanent transfer.

In July 2021, RB Leipzig paid €21 m to sign Silva, but he failed to repeat the form that had seen him score 28 league goals in the previous season. In August of this year - following loans with Real Sociedad and Werder Bremen - he joined La Liga side Elche.

Omar Marmoush

When Eintracht acquired the Egypt international on a free transfer from Wolfsburg in the summer of 2023, Plan A was definitely not to install him as a typical goalscoring centre-forward. The previous season with the Wolves, he only featured five times on the scoresheet and for the most part was regarded as a skilful and flexible attacker who could work magic both in wide areas and in behind a real number nine. Only as an emergency measure was he handed the chance to lead the Frankfurt line - and what a remarkable transformation ensued.

Marmoush went on to deliver the goods in spectacular style, scoring 27 Bundesliga goals in just a season-and-a-half, as well as registering 16 assists.

Some of the gifts he showcased at Eintracht were absolutely natural to him, not least his dynamism, free-kick expertise, excellence in one-on-one situations and ability in the half-space. But he also had a lot of new tricks to learn, with Eintracht coach Dino Toppmoller working endlessly with him on the training ground to make him more selfish in front of goal, better attuned to playing through the middle and to improve his effectiveness in pressing duties. At Eintracht, Marmoush became a much more complete footballer, the sort of impressive all-rounder that Pep Guardiola was only too happy to spend €70m on at the start of this year.

Randal Kolo Muani

AIthough the Parisian striker only stayed at Eintracht for 12 months following a free transfer from French side Nantes in the 2022-23 off-season, the Eagles certainly struck lucky with this partnership. Kolo Muani proved a huge success on the field of play, netting 23 goals in all competitions, adding 17 assists and playing a key role in the team's progression to the knockout stages of the Champions League. Just as importantly, the Frenchman's market worth soared into the stratosphere, eventually leaving for Paris Saint-Germain in a €90m deal early in the 2023-24 campaign.

Normally, Eintracht prefer an amicable parting of the ways, happy to let an individual go when, in the words of director of sport Krosche, "a player is developing quicker than the club."

But this was a messy, embittered affair, with Kolo Muani choosing to force the issue by skipping training. A banner unfurled by Eintracht supporters neatly summed up the fanbase anger: "Kohle [German slang for money] Muani. Cash doesn't change character. It only makes it more visible." Kolo Muani, whose last-gasp miss probably cost France victory in the 2022 World Cup final against Argentina, would subsequently struggle at PSG. But after a productive loan spell with Juventus last term, he is now looking to push on again at Tottenham Hotspur.

"We came out the winner," insisted Krosche. "We received more or less what we wanted from this sale [Eintracht were demanding €100ml and we still had super strikers like Omar Marmoush. It was a pity it came to this, but we had no alternative. We know Randal differently and know his real character. This behaviour had no influence on transfer activities."

Future Stars

Jean-Matteo Bahoya

Bundesliga clubs simply love to fish in the deep reservoir of talent that exists in France and the 20-year-old former Angers left-winger is just one more gem to have crossed the Rhine. A brilliant technician, superb in one-on-one duels and on the counter-attack, he can also shift seamlessly into a number ten slot.

Bahoya's greatest asset is his pace. A few months ago, during an away game at Bochum, he was clocked running at 37.16 km/h, making him the quickest player in the entire Bundesliga.

It cost Eintracht just €8m to prise him away from Angers in January 2024, and he began his second season impressively with two goals in the opening-day victory over Werder Bremen and an assist against Hoffenheim a week later. That form was reportedly enough to attract a € 70m bid from a Saudi Arabian club, which was rejected by Krosche who believes that Bahoya will be worth significantly more very soon.

Can Uzun

The tremendously gifted teenage attacking midfielder arrived from second-division Nuremberg in an €11 m deal last year. After spending his first season with Eintracht learning the top-flight ropes, Uzun is now an automatic starter, operating as the No.10 in their 4-2-3-1 system with Bahoya to his left. After just five Bundesliga games in 2025-26, he had scored five goals and set up three others, and marked his Champions League debut with a goal in the 5-1 thumping of Galatasaray.

Arsenal have been mentioned as admirers of a player that is rated so highly by his club that they are rumoured to value him at the €80m mark. He is under contract until 2029, with Eintracht adamant that he will stay until 2027 at least.

Born in Germany to Turkish parents, the dynamic 19-year-old rejected interest from the DFB to represent Turkey, making his senior international debut in March 2024.

Elye Wahi

On paper, Wahi appears to be the perfect example of Eintracht's recruitment model: young, talented, with unfulfilled potential and a point to prove. The 22-year-old has already had more than €80m spent on him across three moves: from Montpellier to Lens, from Lens to Marseille and then, in January, from Marseille to Eintracht.

But if any club can realise his full potential it's Eintracht, even if he remains a work in progress for now. At the time of writing, he was still waiting for his first goal for the Eagles, but his club has plenty of patience. "We have been interested in Elye Wahi for quite some time" declared Krosche in January after signing the forward. "We will give him the time he needs to adapt."

And that patience may well pay off. A slew of achievements - scoring 20 Ligue 1 goals for Montpellier as a teenager, including the 2022-23 Goal of the Season, and a match-winning performance for Lens against Arsenal in the 2023-24 Champions League - demonstrate his vast potential. Eintracht are now ready to tap into that.

Words by Nick Bidwell.