Eintracht Frankfurt’s Niels Nkounkou to receive fresh audition in cup start | OneFootball

Heavily linked with a move away from his Bundesliga club this summer, French fullback Niels Nkounkou will instead be starting for Eintracht Frankfurt in this weekend’s opening round cup tie. SGE head coach Dino Toppmöller confirmed this at a Friday press conference. Nkounkou will receive his first start in any competition of the current 2025 calendar year after a solid performance in pre-season.

“I’m not going to make a secret of the fact that Niels will start,” Toppmöller remarked on Friday. “He played an outstanding game against Aston Villa [in a pre-season friendly], especially defensively but also going forward with some great moves. His focus was very good. He surprised us positively. Now he just needs to work on the little things we’ve often talked about.”

Nkounkou benefits from the fact that starting let-back Arthur Theate is suspended and German fullback Nathaniel Brown is not fit enough for action. Eintracht enter the start of competitive play with a 31-man-squad comprised of plenty of defenders that the club was unable to move this summer.

Central defenders Hrvoje Smolcic and Auréle Amenda both saw transfers collapse, as did right back Aurelio Buta. Nkounkou remains under contract with Eintracht until 2028.

GGFN | Peter Weis