Memories in Frankfurt of the “buffalo herd” thanks to Omar Marmoush

 

If there is such a thing as the Bundesliga team of the hour, it is certainly Eintracht Frankfurt. Coach Dino Toppmöller’s team plays spectacular football, the irritations of last season have been overcome, the team appears stable, harmonious and inspiring. Above all, there is one attacker who stands out: Omar Marmoush, a 25-year-old Egyptian who is currently unstoppable. In the top game against FC Bayern (3:3) he scored twice – in stoppage time he snatched the victory away from Munich.

In fact, the man is a sensation at first glance: skilled on the ball and extremely fast, as well as callous. Marmoush doesn’t hesitate for long, as his eight Bundesliga goals in just six games this season prove. He leads the top scorers list.

It didn’t take any clairvoyant gift to guess what would happen after his gala against Bayern: Since the 100 million purchase Harry Kane failed to score in the game, Marmoush was declared the ideal Bayern attacker – the Munich team should have done so Put money aside to invest in the man. This doesn’t do justice to a striker of the quality of the Englishman Kane, but there is something to it: Kane is already 31 years old.

The ugly breakup with Randal Kolo Muani

Anyone who listens to Marmoush may not believe that he has only been living in Germany for seven years. After the games, he chats with journalists almost without an accent, which is all the easier for him because there are pleasant things to discuss.

If he were to leave Eintracht, it would be a familiar ritual. No other Bundesliga club has produced as many brilliant strikers in recent years as Frankfurt. Recognizing what advantages an attacker has is now one of the special skills of Hessians, regardless of the person in charge in the managerial position.

In 2021, Eintracht was in a similar situation. She played robust football like today; at that time the coach was called Adi Hütter. They even defeated Bayern in a spectacular game. “Buffalo herd”: That’s what the attacking trio was called at the time, with Sébastien Haller, Ante Rebic and Luka Jovic. And it left such an impression that there is a Wikipedia entry that has to do with footballers and not with powerful creatures from the animal kingdom. The three people from Frankfurt did justice to the term in their power.

At that time, Fredi Bobic was responsible for the obligations. He once formed the so-called magic triangle in Stuttgart with Krassimir Balakov and Giovane Elber – a brand name of a similar quality to the “buffalo herd”. As a center forward, Bobic had a good eye for his colleagues.

Markus Krösche is now Eintracht’s sports director – he has been able to continue the phenomenal run of his predecessor, who was not happy at Hertha BSC. Krösche is not just a technocrat. As a former coach who did a good job in Paderborn, he knows the game from practice at a high level. And he now also has a kind of herd of buffalo. In addition to Marmoush, his strike partner Hugo Ekitiké shines; the 22-year-old was loaned from Paris Saint-Germain.

Ekitiké is not a bad replacement, as the Frankfurt team had to hand over another top-class attacker to the football Eldorado PSG: the French national striker Randal Kolo Muani. He too had blossomed at Eintracht and, like his predecessors, he could not be kept.

It was an unpleasant separation: the man who could have made France the title winner in the 2022 World Cup final shortly before the end of extra time, but failed due to the Argentine goalkeeper’s outstretched leg, in a sense resigned in view of PSG’s offer: “It is I do not care. “Find a solution,” he said. The solution cost PSG a transfer fee of at least 95 million euros.

The strikers brought Eintracht a lot of money

Kolo Muani is Eintracht’s most profitable transfer – more expensive than Luka Jovic, who moved to Real Madrid for 63 million euros. Or as Sébastien Haller, who went to West Ham United for 50 million. Or as Ante Rebic, for whom AC Milan paid a comparatively modest 6.5 million.

The Hessians pay well for the gift of allowing talented strikers to mature in Frankfurt’s obviously performance-enhancing climate. But every time an attacker leaves Frankfurt, the fans are overcome with melancholy. They usually don’t remain sentimental for long, because once you remember what happened to all the talented people, it’s easier to say goodbye.

“What makes the strikers shine at Eintracht Frankfurt?” the “Frankfurter Rundschau” recently asked. The newspaper also had an answer: “It is this symbiosis that those responsible and professionals at Eintracht often talk about.” She cites former Eintracht professional Gonçalo Paciencia as a key witness, who praises Frankfurt’s professionalism as well as the support and quality of life in the city. But could that be the sole reason? Or don’t the men who called them the “buffalo herd” and Kolo Muani have something in common?

Certainly, it is tragic that Haller never played the role that was intended for him at Dortmund after suffering from cancer. But Rebic and Jovic also share the failure outside of Frankfurt. The latter was once seen as someone who could give Real Madrid an impact with his boundless energy – but he was weighed and found wanting in coach Carlo Ancelotti’s star ensemble.

Real Madrid loaned him to Eintracht, then transferred him to Florence, and now he plays for AC Milan, with modest success. Rebic moved straight to Milan, where he scored 27 goals in 100 games. The Italians, meanwhile, handed him over to Besiktas Istanbul. And Kolo Muani? Often sits on the bench at PSG.

Maybe they all played at the limit of their abilities in Frankfurt. And the step towards clubs that are used to playing for the Champions League title was too big. Such experiences could also have impressed Omar Marmoush: The fact that he doesn’t want to leave Eintracht too quickly is evidence of clever career planning.