A bitter loss for Hertha BSC: Tjark Ernst leaves a big gap for the Berliners

When the Brazilian returned to the pitch in June 1975, nine months after his departure from professional football, his future club, the New York Cosmos, had him flown into the stadium in a helicopter for one of his new team’s games. Tjark Ernst, 23 years old, will have a similar experience on Saturday.

His new employer Feyenoord Rotterdam is celebrating the season opening on Saturday. And an important part of this show is traditionally that the arrivals for the professional team are flown into the De Kuip stadium by helicopter. It has been clear since Thursday morning that Tjark Ernst will also be on board when the helicopter lands in the center circle.

The former German U-21 national goalkeeper has signed a four-year contract with Dutch honorary division team Feyenoord. He replaces his compatriot Timon Wellenreuther there, gets the number 1 shirt and will play with the Rotterdam team in the Champions League next season.

In return, Hertha will receive the fixed fee of five million euros for the goalkeeper, whose contract only runs until the end of the coming season.

“The club has great ambitions. That suits me,” Ernst is quoted as saying in a statement from his new employer. Evil tongues could now claim that his departure from Hertha BSC was inevitable. Ernst is already the twelfth player to leave the seventh-place team from the last second division season. The number of arrivals, however, remains at zero.

That is likely to change soon. Hertha still has three goalkeepers – Marius Gersbeck, Tim Goller and Konstantin Heide – under contract. The declared goal of the Berlin second division soccer team is to sign a new number one. One name that remains persistent in this context is that of Florian Kastenmeier, who was relegated from the second division with Fortuna Düsseldorf last season.

Regardless of who else the Berliners sign, Ernst’s departure hits the club hard. The goalkeeper, who played a total of 97 games for Hertha, was the most consistent player in a team that wasn’t consistent enough last season. “Tjark has made an impressive journey in recent years and has developed into our absolute first-choice goalkeeper,” Benjamin Weber, Hertha’s sporting director, is quoted as saying in the club’s statement.

He was once allowed to play in the Bundesliga

Ernst was under contract with the Berliners for a total of four seasons after moving from VfL Bochum’s A youth team to Hertha in the summer of 2022. In his first season he was only used once – in the last game of the season at VfL Wolfsburg, when the team’s relegation from the Bundesliga was already certain. Hertha won 2-1, but above all Ernst showed that he has what it takes to be number one one day.

He became that just a few weeks later after Oliver Christensen moved to Fiorentina. Ernst’s performances were not without fluctuations over the next two seasons, which is not unusual for a young goalkeeper. Under coach Cristian Fiél, he even lost his regular place at the beginning of 2025 – a decision that Fiél’s successor Stefan Leitl immediately reversed after taking office.

Ernst made another significant leap, especially last season, his last at Hertha. He has always been outstanding on the line. Now he seemed more confident and determined even with high balls, as well as with the ball at his feet. Overall, the Berliner was one of the best goalkeepers in the league, even if he wasn’t quite as strong towards the end of the season as he was before the winter break.

Nevertheless, he remained clean in eleven league games. This was only surpassed by Loris Karius, the goalkeeper of newly promoted Schalke 04. According to the statistical data, Ernst prevented almost nine goals from being conceded. Only two goalkeepers from the second division were better in this category. His saves and reliability played a crucial role in compensating for Hertha’s defensive weaknesses.

The Berliners have had an unsatisfactory season in which the team was never able to support its goal of promotion with appropriate performances. Without Tjark Ernst, this season would probably have been even more unsatisfactory.