A beneficiary of the personnel situation at Hertha BSC: Sebastian Grönning has no chance – and takes advantage of it

More than half an hour had now passed since the final whistle and none of Grönning’s colleagues had been seen for a long time.

It was just a test match in the pre-season, a pretty clear affair, which ended with a 9-0 win for Hertha against the Oberliga club Lichtenberg 47, which was three leagues lower. But regardless of the sporting value of such a game and its limited significance: Sebastian Grönning, a professional for the Berlin second division soccer team for a year, enjoyed the moment. And clearly so.

He scored three goals in the 45 minutes he was on the pitch. “Could have done five,” his coach Stefan Leitl later said succinctly. But, no, he added, “it’s good, it’s important.”

After all, Hertha’s Danish center forward hasn’t experienced such moments of happiness so often. He scored three goals in the second division last season, the last at the beginning of October, when he even scored twice in the 2-1 win against Preußen Münster and was thus the man of the match for the Berliners.

But the longer the season lasted, the less Grönning played. In the second half of the season he was only used seven times; He came on as a substitute six times. The 29-year-old made his only starting eleven appearance on the last matchday – in the disastrous 6-1 defeat against relegation candidate Arminia Bielefeld.

At the moment the Dane is benefiting from the situation, which is quite complicated for Hertha. Eleven players have left since the end of the season, the number of new ones remains: zero. From the offensive side, Fabian Reese, last season’s top goalscorer, and Dawid Kownacki have left the club. And because Luca Schuler is now also injured and, according to coach Leitl, will be out until further notice due to adductor problems, Sebastian Grönning is currently the only experienced center forward in the Berlin squad.

He is currently sharing playing time with 18-year-old rookie Niklas Hildebrandt. Both played one half each against Lichtenberg. Hildebrandt, who is already quite advanced for his age, especially physically, was also successful as a goalscorer. Immediately before halftime he scored to make the score 3-0 at halftime.

His contract expires at the end of the season

For Grönning, the current constellation at least offers the chance to get into position. It is his second – and last. His contract with Hertha expires after the season.

A year ago, Grönning was only partially successful in being recommended for a leading role. At that time he came from third division club FC Ingolstadt, where he scored reliably. But the adjustment to the new league and the higher level caused some difficulty for him, especially athletically.

“That’s the situation now,” said Stefan Leitl. “We’re focusing on the guys that are here.” Hertha’s coach, but also the club’s fans, will be required to be patient this summer. There are just four weeks until the Berliners start the new season with the away game at VfL Bochum, and the club has still not been able to announce a single new signing. “We still need one or two reinforcements,” explained Leitl.

After all, after the test in Lichtenberg he sounded a bit more confident that something will happen shortly, and not just on the exit side. “Something will come soon, I assume,” said Hertha’s coach. “We are working on it and hope to be able to announce something soon.”

The first step will be to fix the largest gaps. “If you look at the current squad, it’s like we need something in certain positions because there’s a vacuum,” said Leitl. This applies to the position on the left in the back four, where Gustav Christensen had to help out in Lichtenberg. An offensive player, and a right-footed one at that.

But that definitely also applies to the position in attack, where a position has become vacant due to Kownacki’s departure. The fact that filling the center forward position is a top priority in Hertha’s plans is not good news for Sebastian Grönning.