"Development doesn’t happen at the push of a button" – Interview with sporting director Roland Virkus

Borussia’s sporting director Roland Virkus speaks about the Borussia players taking part in the World Cup, the first half of the season and returning to the ‘Borussia way’.

Roland, the World Cup is still underway. Jonas Hofmann (Germany), Joe Scally (USA) und Ko Itakura (Japan) have been knocked out, Yann Sommer and Nico Elvedi are in the last 16 with Switzerland, and Marcus Thuram and France are already in the quarter finals. How do you rate the sporting-side of the tournament up till now from a Borussia perspective?

Roland Virkus: From a sporting perspective as a club, we are obviously pleased the longer that our players are there at the World Cup. It is a shame that Hoffi and Germany were knocked out so early and Joe Scally didn’t get any playing time; and also Japan’s exit yesterday, which Ko Itakura was suspended for, was very unlucky. We are pleased, however, that Ko has been back playing at a very high level at this World Cup after his injury. It is also very pleasing that Marcus Thuram has found his place in this top-class France national team. Now, it’s about crossing our fingers for Switzerland this evening. All in all, it is brilliant to see how our boys are representing themselves at this World Cup and also representing the club on the international stage. A small drawback of these internationals playing in the World Cup is that they will first return to team training with us a bit later.

Due to the World Cup, the Bundesliga has already stopped for the winter break after 15 matchdays. How do you rate the first half of the season?

Virkus: All in all, we can be pleased. We played really well in a lot of games – for example against Leipzig and Dortmund, but also against Köln and Hoffenheim. After a long time we also played well in Freiburg again; we really should have won against a very good Freiburg team, but at full time it was 0-0. At the moment, we still have fluctuations in our performances.

What do you still need to work on?

Virkus: We can’t allow ourselves to be influenced by the way the opponents play, but have to push forward with our own game. This means possession of the ball, but also good organisation. As a result, we want to also defend more compactly in the games which we might be favourites for. That is of immense importance. We didn’t manage to do this in the cup. Our exit in the second round in Darmstadt still annoys me now. It was not an easy draw, there’s no question of that. We played really badly in the first half there; we didn’t get a hold of the game. We need to find a way to get past this kind of opponent. We have also had these problems in some Bundesliga games. Sometimes, you have to just avoid conceding a goal first, to then to be able to implement the way you want to play. After the winter break it will be important to start well again, to find a certain stability and to stay free of injuries. With this, I will be very confident looking ahead to the second half of the season.

Borussia signed four new players ahead of this season. Nathan Ngoumou and Oscar Fraulo are still very young players, with a lot of development potential. What do you see in them?

Virkus: We signed Nathan to have more pace in transition. He has already hinted what we can achieve with us. He is exceptionally hard-working, but has to work on his final ball and perhaps also on becoming more solid out of possession. We knew that we would have to be patient with him. In relation to Oscar Fraulo, we were clear that we were taking on a longer-term project with him. The boy has yet to really  make his mark with us yet. He has the tendency to want too much of the ball and then make mistakes with it. He has to learn from this. Our task is to reach a level of consistency with him.

How do you judge the performances of Ko Itakura and Julian Weigl until now?

Virkus: These are already success stories at this point. Julian Weigl fits our way of playing brilliantly. He is good in possession and doesn’t make many mistakes. Jule is also clever in winning the ball back. He is a good boy, who is also important for the team’s structure. He started brilliantly here and feels completely at home. With Ko Itakura it was a massive shame that he got injured. I think that if he had been there, we would have had even more defensive solidity in the first part of the season. He has developed brilliantly and is disciplined, hard-working and dedicated. I am really hoping that he has got through the World Cup injury-free and will be able to come in again after his holiday and perform like he did in the first few games.

Apart from Julian Weigl, who at 27 is also anything but old, all the new signings are very young. There are also players in the squad alongside them like Luca Netz, Manu Koné, Joe Scally and Yvandro Borges Sanches. In your eyes, why is a return to the ‘Borussia way’ taking place at the moment?

Virkus: In an ideal world, we would have an experienced player and a young player for every position in the team. The young player always has to be in the position to challenge the experienced player and possibly also to replace them. The young players have to put pressure on the older players. This then leads to the necessary competition for places in the squad, which is ideal to keep performances high. One example: Ramy Bensebaini was not always available last season, and Lucas Netz took the opportunities that he had. The same goes for Joe Scally this season; and it should be like this for every position.

Since Borussia’s move from Bökelberg to BORUSSIA PARK in 2004, a total of 30 players from the youth system have played at least one competitive game for the first team. Recently there have been less of these players. Why does the development of players for the first team seem to move in cycles?

Virkus: It is a process and is closely related to the fact that the club itself has developed. We are playing in Europe more often, and it is then more difficult for the boys to reach this absolute highest possible level. It is obviously about developing players but also about the strengths of individual years, and obviously individual quality of the players themselves also plays a key role. You can’t just throw every youth player in at the top. You don’t do every player a favour by doing that.

Recently, however, the three shirts of Yvandro Borges Sanches, Moritz Nicolas and Jan Olschowsky have been hung up in the tunnel. These are three more Borussia players who have made their competitive debuts for the Foals having come through our youth system.

Virkus: This is our way of doing things and will always be. The coach has not shied away from throwing Yvandro on in tight games. Obviously, there is then the risk that the boy makes a mistake, but that is a part of development. He is a big talent. Jan Olschowsky came in with a difficult situation and after his debut in Bochum he put in a top performance against Dortmund. The youth system obviously plays a key role for us. But starting to do this again can’t be done by the push of a button. It is a process.

Is a part of this also that players from the youth teams regularly train with the first team?

Virkus: Of course. Simon Walde for example had a brilliant pre-season with the first team, having come straight from the U17s. He was absolutely convincing at this level. Unfortunately, he then got injured. But he is now on the road back to the pitch. With Conor Noß, Rocco Reitz, Jan Olschowsky and Yvandro Borges Sanches, we have used four squad registration places for players from our own youth system. There is also Torben Müsel, who joined us at 18. Obviously, we want players like this to go on to be in the starting eleven, but this will not happen overnight. Nevertheless, we have committed to this process once again.

From your perspective, how far does the event ‘Legends of the Park’ show what Borussia Mönchengladbach stands for and what it means to be a part of the Borussia family?

Virkus: The club has a long history. A part of this history was written at Bökelberg, our newer history here at BORUSSIA PARK. It is unbelievable when you see everyone who played here – be it Igor de Camargo, Juan Arango or Raffael – with these boys you are connected to the more recent Borussia history. So I find it great that we have been able to put on this event. That a few, like Juan Arango, have travelled from overseas to be there, shows the appreciation goes both ways – you wouldn’t do that for any club. To do that, you have to have felt completely at home, so it makes us incredibly proud.