Season review: Frankfurt’s debutants | OneFootball

The Eintracht team in 2023/24 was the youngest it has been for some time. No fewer than five talents from the academy staked their claim and celebrated their senior debuts.

The Eagles’ average age in the 2023/24 campaign stood at 25.2 years, while an entire XI of players got their first taste of the Bundesliga. Seven of those were under 21 when they made their debut, while a number of players impressed enough in the youth teams to be given chances higher up.

The first: Nacho Ferri

Ignacio Ferri Julià joined the Frankfurt academy in 2021 from Alzira. In October of the following year, “Nacho” was handed his first professional contract and scored 26 goals for the U21 side in that season. His reward: an early contract extension in August 2023 until 2026 and regular training sessions at Deutsche Bank Park.

That was followed by the Spaniard’s Bundesliga debut on Matchday 5 against Freiburg, his European debut at PAOK in early October and his first senior goal to complete a 3-0 win at Union Berlin a month later.

Here the longest: Elias Baum

Elias Baum is the definition of a homegrown talent. The versatile wide player joined Eintracht in 2015 at the age of nine from FC 1957 Marxheim, progressed through all the youth teams and had already joined the first team – at the age of 16 – for their tour of Japan in November 2022.

Although he was still eligible for the U19s in 2023/24, he was firmly seen as a key player for the U21 team – and a well-received guest in first-team training. Dino Toppmöller gave the talented youngster his first runout in the 1-0 win in Helsinki in the UEFA Europa Conference League in November.

Baum made his full debut for the first team in the same competition in December, playing 90 minutes at Aberdeen. That was followed by his Bundesliga premiere in the 5-1 victory over Bayern Munich.

Ready when called upon: Nnamdi Collins

Nnamdi Collins moved to Frankfurt from Borussia Dortmund’s second string last summer. The 20-year-old defender staked his claim for the first team via the U21s and has also been regularly involved with the German U20 team. Before the home game against Werder Bremen in early April, Eintracht faced a shortage of defensive midfielders. Tuta filled in and Collins took the Brazilian’s position for over an hour. At Stuttgart the following week, the coaching staff also called on the abilities of the 1.88-metre-tall dynamo for the final half-hour.

Taking the next step: Noel Futkeu

Noel Futkeu also joined the Eagles in summer 2023 from Schwarz-Weiß Essen. Futkeu made his – admittedly unfortunate – senior debut on his 21st birthday in the DFB Cup tie at Saarbrücken, where he was sent off after coming on. However, 16 goals and eight assists in 27 Regionalliga games for Eintracht’s U21s attracted the attention of Bundesliga 2 club Greuther Fürth, where the striker will hope to make his mark in professional football from next season.

Under the radar

The quartet serve as proof of how intertwined the U21s and the pros are at Eintracht. For example, goalkeeping talent Kauã Santos, 21, Simon Simoni and Luke Gauer (both 19), who was unveiled by the Mainz 05 U23s on Tuesday, as well as Nils Ramming, 17, were all included in the matchday squad at some point in 2023/24.

Marko Mladenovic, meanwhile, did not only feature in several first-team training sessions in the second half of the previous campaign, but he also made his professional debut in the away match at runners-up VfB Stuttgart in April. Mladenovic moved to Frankfurt from SV Stuttgarter Kickers in 2022 and was the top scorer in the U19 Bundesliga South/Southwest last season with 17 goals in 24 games, while registering 10 assists.