Borussia Mönchengladbach fuming at Florian Neuhaus links to Bayern Munich

Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl was not happy about his star midfielder Florian Neuhaus being linked to Bayern Munich earlier this week.

Eberl told Sport1 that any move for Neuhaus would be too soon.

“I’ve been doing this for 12 years now and we’ve always had our players link with other clubs — just like our coach, incidentally,” Eberl said. “That is sometimes difficult. I sometimes ask myself: ‘What do we want?’ On one hand, we want to have a competition in which clubs other than Bayern can become champions. But on the other hand, these players are all being linked with this club in the media again. Why not just say: ‘Hey, cool! Something is developing in Gladbach.’ Why shouldn’t Florian Neuhaus stay with us?! Meanwhile, the reflex reaction is always: ‘Good game, good development, but where is he going?’ It always happens too quickly for me.”

Photo by Stuart Franklin/Getty Images

Clearly, Eberl is annoyed and almost insinuates that tired and common “Bayern-liga” theme that the Bavarians just poach talent from the rest of the Bundesliga. Still, Eberl is hoping that Neuhaus will stick around Borussia Park.

“Flo knows what he’s got with us,” Eberl said. “He plays with Gladbach at the highest level, in the Champions League. Of course, I also know that our players have the potential to go to the biggest clubs at some point. It was no different with Roman Neustadter, Granit Xhaka or Mahmoud Dahoud, for example. But we managed these and other departures well previously.”

Even with the rumors, Eberl is happy that Neuhaus is showing his talent for both club and country.

“I am very pleased that Florian has made such a great development and is now with the national team,” said Eberl. “Even his first international match against Turkey was good and he scored. Against the Czech Republic he showed a very stable performance again and was a match-defining figure. You had the feeling that of the debutants and newcomers that he was perhaps even the most seasoned player.”

Eberl also credited Neuhaus with taking ownership of his development and also his commitment to improving his game.

“In the end it was only really up for him. In Düsseldorf and the two-and-a-half years with us he almost played through and made steady steps forward,” said Eberl. “Florian played an outstanding second half of the season and is currently doing very well again. The games in the Champions League naturally help him develop. You can see from him how quickly good footballers adapt and take on a new level.”