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RB Leipzig have appointed the highly rated Max Eberl as their new sporting director well over a year after Markus Krosche left the position.
Eberl has been out of work since resigning from a similar role at Borussia Monchengladbach in January due to feeling “drained and tired” and no longer having “the strength to carry out the job in the way the club deserves”.
That brought to an end a 23-year association with Borussia, having initially joined them as a player in 1999 before moving into directorial positions from 2005.
Leipzig had operated without a permanent sporting director since the club and Krosche mutually terminated their agreement in April 2021 following “intensive discussions regarding the club’s future”.
Christopher Vivell, Florian Scholz and Frank Aehlig had been filling the void in the interim, but in Eberl, club chairman Oliver Mintzlaff believes Leipzig have the perfect candidate to take them forward when he assumes office on December 15 after signing a “long-term” contract.
“With Max Eberl, we were able to fill the position of managing director for sport with our absolute dream candidate,” Mintzlaff said.
“We have been dealing with Max for a long time but have always respected his difficult situation and are now very happy to be able to start working together in December.
“After his press conference in January this year, I got in touch with Max and wished him all the best. After that, I kept trying to get in touch, but Max told me that he needed peace and quiet and wasn’t interested in football, but that we could meet up in the summer. That’s why I never let go of contact and met him in the summer.
“Here, Max confirmed to me that he finds the perspective with us very interesting, but he did not want to come back before July 1, 2023. But that opened the door a bit for us, and we are now very happy that together with Max we found the starting point of our cooperation for mid-December.
“Max is an absolute football expert and has a large network and an excellent name in the industry both nationally and internationally. For many years in Monchengladbach he showed how you can build something up and find the right solution even for difficult situations.
“He has proven himself both as a transfer expert and as a promoter of talent, achieved a great deal and delivered a successful job.”
Eberl took over football operations at Gladbach in October 2009 – at that point, they had not ended a top-flight season higher than 10th since 1996.
During his time in charge, the club finished higher than 10th in 10 successive seasons and even managed four top-four finishes in the Bundesliga.
One of those came with Marco Rose as head coach, and the pair will link up again in Leipzig after the 46-year-old replaced Domenico Tedesco at the helm earlier this month.
Eberl was still technically contracted to Borussia, but the club agreed to dissolve their partnership, thus allowing him to join Leipzig.
