Mainz extend contract of understudy keeper
Robin Zentner is playing a big part in Mainz's Champions League push this season. Meanwhile, reserve goalkeeper Daniel Batz extends his contract at the club until 2026. The 34-year-old is yet to feature this term.
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"He's an absolute role model both humanly and athletically," said Mainz's sporting director Niko Bungert about the former 1. FC Saarbrücken shot-stopper. 'He gives 100 percent in every training session. We are happy that he will be joining us for another year.'
"I am happy to continue to be part of the 05 family," reflected Batz after penning a new deal at the club. 'There have been ups and downs, but we've always mastered everything together. Mainz 05 is a family-oriented club with very close ties to its city; everyone gives a lot to one another.'
Batz deputized for the absence of Zentner in four Bundesliga matches last term. Thanks to a remarkable season under Bo Henriksen, Mainz will most likely feature in European competition next season.
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New York Times
a minute ago
- New York Times
The homegrown rule that will cost some Spurs players a place in the Champions League
Tottenham Hotspur are facing the prospect of having to leave a significant number of first-team players out of their Champions League squad in the coming season. Qualification comes with the opportunity to play on club football's grandest stage, and, crucially for a side who want to progress in the competition and remain in it for seasons to come, a huge cash injection to strengthen further via the transfer market. However, it also necessitates an increased focus on how their current ranks are constructed due to homegrown player rules. Advertisement The Premier League requires that its participating clubs' squads 'must contain no more than 17 players who do not fulfil the 'homegrown player' criteria'. According to the league's rulebook, a homegrown player is 'a player who, irrespective of nationality or age, has been registered with any club affiliated to The Football Association or the Football Association of Wales for a period, continuous or not, of three entire seasons, or 36 months, before his 21st birthday (or the end of the season during which he turns 21)'. Tottenham have eight fully fledged first-team players who fulfil this classification (Brandon Austin, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, Archie Gray, Brennan Johnson, James Maddison, Dominic Solanke and Djed Spence), and also several academy graduates and homegrown talents who may remain with the squad for the season, so they are currently on target. However, UEFA's 'locally trained' rules will be much trickier to navigate. As for last season's Europa League, which they won to secure this Champions League spot, Tottenham will submit two lists: List A (the main squad) and List B (players born on or after January 1, 2004, who have been eligible to play for the club for an uninterrupted period of two years since turning 15). The overall number of players (25) they include on List A is the same as for the Premier League, but the makeup of it will be markedly different. This is due to UEFA having a separate distinction between 'association-trained' and 'locally trained' players. In other words, where the Premier League does not pay attention to which English or Welsh team(s) developed a given player, UEFA necessitates that at least four of the eight association-trained players must have spent at least three entire seasons, or 36 months, between the ages of 15 and 21 at the club they're currently with. Advertisement A quick glance at the eight senior players who qualify as homegrown demonstrates the pressing nature of the matter. Currently, only third-choice goalkeeper Austin is 'locally trained' compliant, and if Spurs do not address the issue, UEFA rules state they will have to leave three registration slots in their squad open for the coming season, reducing their total number of players from 25 to 22. The situation has not been helped by Tottenham's transfer activity. Alfie Whiteman, a boyhood Spurs fan and an academy graduate, helped bolster their locally trained figures last season and earned a Europa League winner's medal despite not playing in any of the games, but he has since been released. In his place, the club are likely to promote Antonin Kinsky to their European squad, having left him out of their Europa League group soon after signing him in January. Though this summer's signings so far will improve Tottenham's depth and quality, Mohammed Kudus, Mathys Tel and Kota Takai will never be eligible to fill homegrown status in the Premier League or UEFA competitions. The proposed signing of Morgan Gibbs-White from Nottingham Forest would be another addition to the association-trained contingent but not the 'locally trained' group. The need to strengthen a squad that new head coach Thomas Frank has declared should compete on all four fronts in the coming season must be balanced with UEFA's squad-registration requirements, and there is some concern over the club's ability to solve that puzzle. Developing first-team-ready players through the academy is the optimal way out of this situation, as it requires no transfer fees and exposes young talent to elite football early in their development cycle. While it is largely dependent on the quality of those emerging from your youth setup, fellow Champions League qualifiers Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are in good positions from a club-trained perspective, with the likes of Phil Foden, Curtis Jones and Bukayo Saka now seasoned operators in Europe's premier competition. Advertisement Given Austin is likely to sit behind Guglielmo Vicario and Kinsky on the goalkeeping depth chart, Spurs are currently without a club-trained player in the squad who is expected to make a meaningful impact on the Champions League in the coming season. Another avenue is to re-sign club-trained players who had moved on. Arsenal moved for Wolverhampton Wanderers' backup goalkeeper Dan Bentley last year as they sought to address their own homegrown concerns (which have since been addressed through the emergence of Ethan Nwaneri and Myles Lewis-Skelly), but fell short of the asking price for their former academy player. Tottenham academy graduate Kyle Walker-Peters was available as a free agent earlier this summer after leaving Southampton at the end of his contract and could have provided full-back cover on either side, but he has now joined West Ham United — possibly an opportunity missed. Though Noni Madueke, Arsenal's recent signing from Chelsea, spent four years at Spurs' academy to the age of 16, he would not have been eligible for a club-trained or association-trained slot as he spent the majority of the eligibility period in the Netherlands with PSV. Others who fit this bill include Oliver Skipp, Harry Winks, Nabil Bentaleb, Dennis Cirkin, Troy Parrott and a slew of centre-backs, such as Japhet Tanganga, Cameron Carter-Vickers and Milos Veljkovic. In any other circumstances, it is unlikely that any of these will head up Hotspur Way this summer, not least because Tottenham are very well-stocked in central defence. Oh, and then there's Harry Kane… Finding a way to manage the present while preventing any opportunity for Tottenham's exciting young talents to demonstrate their qualities in the Champions League is another awkward quandary. If they were to return for Winks or Skipp, for example, how would that affect Lucas Bergvall or Archie Gray in midfield? On the same token, might a move for Carter-Vickers or Veljkovic harm Takai or Luka Vuskovic's prospects of making the cut? With such a bloated first-team group already, it seems inevitable that quality players will be left disappointed when the club submit their final squad to UEFA after the summer transfer window closes on September 1. Fortunately, the long-term future looks brighter for Tottenham. From 2026-27, Bergvall and Gray will be eligible to be registered in List B. The following season, they will become club-trained. The same will eventually apply to 18-year-old Vuskovic, should he remain at Spurs for three seasons or more. Advertisement But while their recent policy of attracting talented youngsters to their part of north London should bear fruit eventually, it won't help them navigate this situation at present. For now, Tottenham's new-look boardroom has the unenviable task of addressing a pressing issue that could otherwise have a significant impact on the ability of Frank's team to perform at their best in the Champions League next season.
New York Times
4 minutes ago
- New York Times
Frankfurt are about to hit profits of €345m in six years just from selling strikers – this is how they do it
Most clubs would feel a little uneasy, maybe even start to panic, if they always had to think about selling their best attacking player come the end of a season. Others, understandably, would fight tooth and nail to try to keep that key figure. But for Eintracht Frankfurt, under the guidance of sporting director Markus Krosche, letting their top goalscorers go — as they have done after four of the past seven German Bundesliga seasons — has swiftly become a natural and necessary part of their self-sustainable approach. Advertisement 'I call them end clubs,' Krosche said in an August 2024 interview with Sky Sports, referring to the likes of Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester City and Liverpool. 'We are a club in between, who sell to these end clubs. 'This is what I tell the players: 'If your development is faster than our development as a club, and I get the money I expect, I will let you go'. This is why so many young talents like to come to Frankfurt, because we know what we have to do to develop them. 'Selling players is part of my job. I am not emotional about it. It's business.' Though it sounds clinical, Krosche's attention to detail — having invested heavily in the training facilities and coaching staff at Frankfurt over the past few years — is just as beneficial for the players as it is for the club's financial growth. They have hired psychologists and nutrition experts and can rely on a team of specialist coaches to work individually with young players, helping them to achieve their goals, which are, transparently, to move on and to play for Europe's biggest sides. With the imminent sale of Hugo Ekitike to Premier League champions Liverpool, reported by The Athletic to amount to around €91million with add-ons, Frankfurt's net transfer profit since summer 2023 will rise to around €161m. Their two biggest sales until that deal is official — Randal Kolo Muani and Omar Marmoush — both arrived as free agents and left commanding fees of €165m between them. When Ekitike is factored in, and only accounting for the centre-forwards they've sold, Frankfurt will have made a profit of around €345million (£300m/$405m at current rates) in just six years. Even before Krosche's 2021 appointment, in summer 2019, Frankfurt more than tripled their original investments when they sold Sebastien Haller and Luka Jovic in the same window. Andre Silva, who came in that summer on an initial loan to replace them, left for almost eight times the price for which he was purchased in summer 2020, just a year later, after scoring 28 league goals in the ensuing campaign. From a pure profit perspective, no club have generated more across the past three years, according to Transfermarkt, and they've done it while climbing steadily up the table: from seventh in 2022-23, to fifth, to matching their highest-ever Bundesliga finish last season by coming third. So, just how do Frankfurt keep doing it? And is it something we can expect to continue, with even more money coming their way? From a player-recruitment perspective, Frankfurt's approach to ensuring future profitability isn't groundbreaking. They target youngsters with high sell-on potential, placing particular emphasis on those who are positionally versatile and suit the club's style of play. It's the consistency and commitment to their methodology, along with the environment they create for incoming players, that helps them reap the rewards. Advertisement The execution of their strategy is always clear to see, with 21 of Frankfurt's last 26 permanent signings being under the age of 25 when they joined the club. They also, crucially, are not afraid to spend themselves if they spot a market opportunity, and will offer eight-figure fees if they believe that player fits their model. A look at their 10 most expensive buys illustrates that pattern. One of the oldest purchases in the list was that of Arthur Theate, though he was just 24 at the time. With plenty of top-flight experience in Italy's Serie A and France's Ligue 1 behind him, he came in from Rennes last August and played the third-most minutes of anyone in the Frankfurt squad. Of the 10, six are still at the club, and the others were sold for a cumulative profit of €111million, with a hefty boost to come when Ekitike officially becomes a Liverpool player. Jonathan Burkardt has yet to play competitively for Frankfurt but looks to be another acquisition that aligns closely with their recruitment project. Burkardt only turned 25 this month, so the three-time Germany international centre-forward has his best years ahead of him after leaving boyhood club Mainz. He scored 18 Bundesliga goals in what was his farewell season after recovering from the knee injury that kept him out for most of 2022-23 and the start of the following campaign. Able to play across the front line, as the position map illustrates below, even filling in at wing-back in his early appearances in the top flight, Burkardt is another forward who is adaptable, athletic and quick to spot opportunities to run in-behind — exactly the kind of attacking player who tends to prosper in a high-energy Frankfurt side. There are distinct similarities between him and now-Manchester City forward Marmoush, who was also picked up by Frankfurt after showing his versatility elsewhere in the Bundesliga with Stuttgart and Wolfsburg. As he has gone on to show in the Premier League, the Egyptian can play anywhere across the final third, but his skill set — an excellent striker of the ball from distance and a springy, powerful runner on the counter-attack — saw him thrive at a club that gave him the freedom to exploit space in transition. Advertisement As we can see below, Frankfurt were the side to have generated the most expected goals (xG) from fast-break situations last season, only being outscored in those scenarios by Liverpool across Europe's big four leagues (Premier League, Bundesliga, La Liga and Serie A). With Marmoush at the heart of their distinct attacking approach, alongside Ekitike, another player similarly well-suited to free-flowing football on the break, the pair saw their respective valuations take off. In that respect, Frankfurt's commitment to quick, attacking football under coach Dino Toppmoller goes some way to explaining their recent success in the transfer market. Appealing to clubs in the Premier League, far and away the highest-spending division in world football, will be key to the consistent profitability of their model. And given that the English top flight jumped above the Bundesliga for the number of direct attacks per game last season, players who can be decisive at speed will continue to command premium prices. Speaking to The Athletic in May, Frankfurt CEO Axel Hellmann used the example of Marmoush to underline the importance of targeted training within his club to accelerate the upward trajectories of their talented players. 'We have one of the best coaching teams in the Bundesliga,' Hellmann said. 'That's really important, because we sign young players and the process of educating them, which is what is making us famous at the moment, involves a lot. 'When Marmoush arrived, he wasn't really a goalscorer, but our coaches worked with him mentally, physically, strategically, and tactically and technically on the pitch. Our team worked on all his abilities and we created a whole new player. It's good education and good coaching.' Marmoush joined Frankfurt as a pacy, positionally fluid attacking player, but he left 18 months later as so much more. He became a clinical finisher, his work on free kicks and set pieces was evident, plus the technical ability and combination play to both break down low blocks and strike with space ahead. Some will view their approach as lacking ambition, but Frankfurt's acceptance of their place in the footballing food chain is arguably their greatest strength. Their track record of developing and upselling young players now speaks for itself and helps attract some of the best prospects to their club. There are no delusions at Frankfurt, no blockers; if a player works hard to realise their talent, they will get the move they crave and help the club to achieve their objectives along the way. Advertisement All that remains to be seen now is how they continue to scale up on the pitch. Even with Champions League football on the menu for the coming season, Frankfurt will struggle to reinvest all of their immense transfer profits into the squad, as they are unlikely to attract the kind of star player who can sign and then immediately improve them. They have little choice but to keep investing in the future, so even if we see a slight drop-off from that third-placed finish, don't expect Frankfurt's striker conveyor belt to slow down.
New York Times
4 minutes ago
- New York Times
Will Patri Guijarro be the next Spain midfielder to win the Ballon d'Or?
When holding midfielder Patri Guijarro was asked to play in defence for the 2021 Champions League final against Chelsea because Barcelona's regular centre-back Andrea Pereira was suspended, it was out of her comfort zone. But she was flawless and Barcelona won 4-0. And when Barca discovered that attacking midfielder Alexia Putellas was set to miss almost the entire 2022-23 season with an anterior cruciate ligament injury, their replacement in the transfer market was not an equivalent playmaker, but instead defensive midfielder Keira Walsh. Guijarro was asked to step forward into the role played by Putellas, the world's best player. She was up for the challenge. Advertisement 'I watched a lot of videos of her to analyse how she moved and what she looked for in build-up play,' Guijarro said in No Nos Digas Que Es Imposible (Don't Tell Us It's Impossible), a new book about Barcelona by Maria Tikas. 'She's not a fast player, but she's very intelligent when it comes to finding space and looking forward.' When that season's Champions League final arrived, Guijarro was now established as a key attacking midfielder. Putellas had returned from injury, but she was not 100 per cent fit and had to be content with a place on the bench. Barcelona went 2-0 down to Wolfsburg, but Guijarro scored twice at the start of the second half to draw them level, before Fridolina Rolfo smashed in the winner. Guijarro, a starring centre-back in the equivalent fixture two years before, was named player of the match as an attacking midfielder. That sums up Guijarro; constantly sacrificing herself for the team and capable of playing almost any position. That is why she is such a good all-round holding midfielder, a position crucial to the possession play of both Barcelona and Spain. Traditionally, players in that role do not get the plaudits, especially when they are playing in the same midfield as Putellas and Aitana Bonmati, who have split the past four Ballon d'Or awards between them. But maybe that is starting to change. 'Patri is the foundation of the team,' said team-mate Vicky Lopez in a press conference before the semi-final against Germany. 'She's the one who drives the team forward, who makes us all play well and perform at our best. If you watch a match and focus only on Patri, you can't help but smile when you see her play. 'Playing with her is very easy and very difficult at the same time. There are passes that only she sees and you don't expect. You have to get used to her. She doesn't give easy passes. Her passes are almost always forward, with purpose. For me, playing with her is very nice. She's one of the best in the world and very underrated.' Advertisement Last year, Spain won the men's European Championship with Rodri voted the player of the tournament and then, later in the year, winning the Ballon d'Or. Rodri symbolised the new Spain. On the one hand, he had all the typical qualities of a Spanish holding midfielder: comfortable in possession and intelligent in a positional sense. But he was also a more aggressive, offensive-minded player than his predecessors. He pushed up and pressed high. He pushed forward to offer a goalscoring threat. His team, in turn, were more direct than previous Spain sides. And all this can be said of Guijarro. Look at a touch map from her performances so far at this tournament and it is not what you expect of a holding midfielder. Most of her touches are well inside the opposition half, partly a reflection of Spain's dominance, but partly because she often takes advantage of being unmarked to push on. Guijarro's aggression means Spain are excellent at getting into good attacking situations immediately after being without possession. Take this move early on in the 5-2 win over Belgium. Not many holding midfielders would be closing down this high up the pitch. But after Guijarro helps to force a turnover, she simply keeps on running and gets on the end of this through ball from Mariona Caldentey. Five seconds after hopefully closing down an opponent, Spain's holding midfielder is playing a cutback from close to the byline. Away from the pitch, Guijarro is a sensitive, reliable figure. She was one of the first signings of Barcelona's professional women's era in 2015, although she was initially hesitant, as she wanted to finish high school in her native Mallorca. Eventually, an agreement was made that she could finish her studies at La Masia, becoming something of a revolutionary as the first female player to study at the club's academy. She was instantly respected in the dressing room and was named one of the side's captains at the age of just 21. Advertisement Those who know her best describe her as loyal and caring, to the point of neglecting herself and her own interests in order to look after others. She conveys this same attitude to the team when she plays. 'Patri is one of the best people you could ever meet,' says one person close to the player, who preferred to remain anonymous to protect relationships. Guijarro is also Spain's dressing-room DJ. When Lopez was selected to start against Portugal in the team's opening Euro 2025 game, she knew what to play. 'Before the match, Patri played some dembow songs to motivate me,' Lopez told RTVE after the match (dembow is a music genre with roots in the Caribbean). On and off the pitch, she looks after her team-mates and sets the rhythm. If Spain feel like a more aggressive, attack-minded side than at the 2023 World Cup — getting the ball forward quicker and also pressing with more intensity — it is partly because of the return of Guijarro, who refused to play for Spain during that era. She has long been famous for fighting for women's footballers' rights. She feels deeply that she has to leave this sport in a better state than she found it, not only in terms of sporting success, but also off the pitch. And she has demonstrated this in everything she has done throughout her career. She and Barcelona team-mate Pereira were co-founders of FutPro, a union for female professional footballers in Spain, and she became a member of the Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) assembly. 'There had never been any FutPro players who voted for the president of the RFEF, and finally we were able to,' she said in an interview with newspaper El Mundo earlier this month. 'For us, voting was like women's suffrage in Spain in 1933.' Lawyer Amanda Gutierrez, FutPro's president, told The Athletic: 'Thanks to a change that FutPro is working on following the 'Se Acabo' ('It's Over') movement, we insist there should be female assembly members. There is now one female futsal player and six in Liga F. It is very important to be an assembly member because they are the ones who vote for the president and decide the president's salary. They have a say in what is decided. It is a way of being involved and knowing what is going on. It is a huge responsibility and Patri took it on.' Advertisement In September 2022, 15 Spain players sent an email to the RFEF declaring themselves unavailable for selection and demanding what they considered basic conditions for professional footballers. Guijarro was among the hard-liners; as the months went by, more than half of the initial 15 agreed to return. But she refused, alongside — most notably — Barcelona team-mates Mapi Leon and Claudia Pina, as well as Lola Gallardo, Ainhoa Moraza, Nerea Eizagirre and Amaiur Sarriegi. Spain lifted the World Cup without her, with holding midfielder Teresa Abelleira performing well in that position. Guijarro is not a proud person. What happened has not prevented her from returning to the national team when she felt the changes they were asking for within the institution had been made. She eventually agreed to return ahead of the Olympics last summer, after the RFEF's clean-up, which involved dismissing president Luis Rubiales and coach Jorge Vilda. Centre-back Leon remains a significant absence from this side, but the return of Guijarro and Pina, as well as Lopez's evolution into a first-teamer, have made Spain more complete. Among wonderful contributions in the final third from the likes of Pina and Putellas, Guijarro has probably been Spain's most consistent player at the Euros. The moment that sums it up best is her goal against Italy: not just because she got herself on the scoresheet, but because of the nature of the goal. Latching onto a loose ball from an Italy clearance, she simply slammed it into the net. Spain have scored prettier goals at this tournament, but this was what Guijarro is all about. What other defensive midfielders would regard as a potential interception, she sees as a potential goal. From defence to attack, without pausing for breath. Guijarro finished a respectable 11th in the Ballon d'Or voting last year, although she was behind five Barcelona team-mates, and ultimately her role is generally considered to be about letting more attacking players shine. But her performances at Euro 2025 have been even more dominant than we've become accustomed to. In this form, she is a serious contender to be named the best player at this tournament, and maybe the best in the world.
