Confirmed: Van de Beek left off Frankfurt's UECL roster while Philipp Max returns
Eintracht Frankfurt officially unveiled their eligible roster for the upcoming UEFA Europa Conference League two-legged playoff against Royale Union Saint-Gilloise on Monday evening.
As had been reported by Germany's "Sport Bild" yesterday, new Manchester United signing Donny van de Beek will not be among the players eligible for selection by Eintracht Frankfurt head-coach Dino Toppmöller in this month's two-legged UEL Knockout round match-up against Union St. Gilloise. The three spaces reserved for new players not nominated for the competition this autumn belong to new winter striker signings Sasa Kalajdzic and Hugo Ekitiké.
After being dropped from the UEL roster this autumn, left-back Philipp Max has regained his spot back. Max continues to have to fight for minutes in Topppmöller's league XI, having lost his starting place to the surging Niels Nkounkou last December. The former German national team representative (thrice-capped) looks to get another shot as a starter this coming weekend after Nkounkou was ejected from last weekend's league loss and will be suspended.
Frankfurt had plenty of space available on their UEL roster after Markus Krösche, Timo Hardung, and the rest of the SGE administrative team cut an impressive sic players off the club's "dead-weight" ledger via five loans (Kristijan Jakic, Jens Petter Hauge, Paxten Aaronson, Marcel Wenig, and Jessic Ngankam) and one sale (Lucas Alario). UEFA regulations nevertheless permit only three new registrations and there were already plenty of options at van de Beek's position.
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— Eintracht Frankfurt (@Eintracht) February 5, 2024
Eintracht Frankfurt nominiert drei neue Spieler für die K.-o.-Phase der @europacnfleague: Hugo Ekitiké, Sasa Kalajdzic und Philipp Max 🇪🇺🦅#SGE #SGEuropahttps://t.co/vMjKVUmnpG