Farewell to a long summer: Hertha BSC and the end of an unsatisfactory season

Stefan Leitl has held a somewhat regular training session at Hertha BSC in the past few days, but the content was different than in a normal week in the middle of the season. Above all, Leitl let his players play and gave little input from outside, for example of a tactical nature. It was about “keeping the fun high,” says Hertha’s coach. “We managed that quite well.”

In general, the season, which still has an away game for Hertha at Arminia Bielefeld on Sunday (3:30 p.m., Sky), should have been a lot more fun – and, above all, a different end. The fact that there is still a lot at stake at the Bielefelder Alm is not down to Hertha, but solely to the Arminians, who are fighting against relegation from the second division.

Stefan Leitl therefore expects “a very intense game in a stadium with a high level of emotion.” For his team, it is above all “a matter of attitude, countering it with the necessary intensity and remaining stable.” However, Hertha has not consistently managed to remain stable this season.

That’s why the Berliners clearly missed the target set last summer. The Berliners wanted to get promoted and return to the Bundesliga after three years in the lower division. But as in the previous two years, the team never got higher than sixth place. In the best case, Hertha can move up to fifth place on the last matchday; in the worst case, the team ends the season in seventh place.

High mediocre: That is and was Hertha this season. “As stupid or strange as this may sound, it is the best result so far,” says Leitl. Hertha finished ninth and eleventh the previous two years. The number of points is also the best so far since relegation in 2023 – regardless of how many more are added in Bielefeld. “And yet we didn’t achieve the goal we set ourselves,” Hertha’s coach had to admit.

In the season that is now coming to an end, the Berliners have heard again and again that they had a team with remarkable individual quality. It is at least questionable whether this will still be the case in the new season. “I know that we want to and have to sell,” says Leitl – and to an extent that should not be underestimated.

Hertha’s financial director Ralf Huschen admitted following the general meeting at the end of last month that the club must once again achieve a transfer surplus in the double-digit million range. Hertha officially said goodbye to five players last weekend. And if you believe the speculation currently circulating, there will be more to come.

The time has now come when rumors sprout like asparagus tips from the Beelitz soil. Kennet Eichhorn is now moving back to FC Bayern Munich after he had already moved to Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City this week. According to “Kicker”, Fabian Reese is said to be negotiating with VfL Wolfsburg and could take goalkeeper Tjark Ernst with him.

“The majority of the team is here for now and has a contract. It’s not like they’re all running away, to make that clear,” says coach Leitl. “We are also planning with these players.” But he at least suspects that “it will be an extremely long summer” in which the transfer market will only start to move very late, not least because of the World Cup. So the rumors will continue to sprout even after the asparagus season has long since ended.

The situation is not as clear for all players as it is for Marten Winkler. The 23-year-old has informed Hertha in the past few days that he wants to move this summer, a year before his contract expires, preferably to the Bundesliga.

“The facts are clear,” says Stefan Leitl. “Matte has a contract and he has publicly stated that he would like to leave the club. Now we should find a solution.” However, it is far from clear that Winkler will actually no longer be there when the Second League starts its new season on the first weekend in August.