Max Eberl justifies his time off and his move to RB Leipzig

Max Eberl breaks his silence.

Max Eberl justifies his time off and his move to RB Leipzig

Max Eberl breaks his silence. The former Borussia Mönchengladbach sporting director will return to football in mid-December, joining RB Leipzig. Now he tells why he decided to take a break earlier this year and how it has been for him during that time.

In tears and visibly exhausted, Max Eberl announced his retirement from Borussia Mönchengladbach in January this year. After many, many years in the business - coupled with immense responsibility - the 49-year-old had to "get out", as he said at the time. Nothing has been heard from him since then, but now he is speaking again for the first time.

"I was in Mönchengladbach for a total of 23 years; without a break, without time to reflect and process something. This includes, for example, private matters, such as the separation from my wife almost three and a half years ago after almost 25 years," revealed Eberl in an interview with the picture. "Due to the tight schedule, we footballers tend to quickly check things off, push them aside and move on. The next game is coming up. But at some point the mountain will get bigger and bigger with everything that has piled up. (...) Max Eberl always marched. I wanted the greatest possible success for the club and I gave myself completely," he explained. In the end, the mountain he climbed was "too big". "I was in a dead end," emphasized the longtime Gladbacher. "Now I know that. But it took me a while to realize and accept that football wasn't the focus of my life."

Eberl used the time when football was replaced as the focus for travelling. But this doesn't just mean the holiday that you would think of first when you heard this term - but also a journey to yourself. "Actually we're talking about two journeys," explained Eberl. "A physical journey on which I saw different great places have visited. (...) But the greater journey was the psychological one - a journey to myself. A journey to reflect on what happened. To think about things. For this trip I also sought professional help, because it was a very intensive journey. It started the first day after the press conference and then ran more or less every day."

In the meantime, he asserted, he was doing "very well" again. After leaving Borussia, he used the time to take care of himself. The 49-year-old "looked at the person Max Eberl, paid attention to him and took care of him". "When I came back from Argentina, I took professional help and reflected professionally. I asked myself questions and got involved with them. That was revealing, but also very painful and hard. I was busy with myself and can say openly : I also cried a lot. I'm now at a point where I'm much more aware of things, "said Eberl.

The fact that he will be back in the football business from December - and then of all things at RB Leipzig - has caused astonishment, but also disappointment and even anger among many fans of the Bundesliga. "Of course, this debate was an issue in my mind," Eberl admitted.

"When I dealt with it, I realized how important it was for me to please people for years - that the fans and the people around me are satisfied with what I do," said Eberl. In the meantime, however, he assesses things differently: "But today I say: In the end there is only one person you really have to answer to, and that is yourself. And I just feel like working for Leipzig."

This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as Max Eberl justifying his time off and his move to RB Leipzig.

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