Virkus: “Great energy”

Sporting director Roland Virkus sat down and spoke with the media on the penultimate day at Tegernsee. The 55-year-old spoke about new coach Daniel Farke and the atmosphere within the dressing room among other things.

Sporting director Roland Virkus on…

…the training camp: Everything is amazing here at Tegernsee. The lads have worked really hard so far and there’s a good mood in camp. They were obviously excited for the new coach and his training sessions. Players are particularly happy when ­they get to work with the ball. Fitness sessions are obviously important too, that’s just normal for a training camp. You are laying the foundations for the whole season.

…head coach Daniel Farke: He’s got great energy. Everyone is getting on and the lads are putting a shift in on the pitch. My first impression of the coach has been backed up after his first weeks. We now need to take these positive vibes back to Mönchengladbach with us.

…the mood around the club: I would like it if we could mainly focus on the basic things, namely football. We just want to take things game by game. Our aim must be to rejuvenate the club. We want to start doing that right now and it’s gone well so far.

…new signing Ko Itakura: It’s always great when new players can be part of the training camp because that’s where a lot of the pre-season work is done.

…Manu Koné: Manu is working on his return. He’s getting better each day. We have increased his workload day by day and the knee hasn’t reacted badly to that. We will continue to do this and see when he can do more than just train on his own. It would be silly to speculate when that will be. You always want to play as a footballer. Being injured during the training camp was a bad situation for him.

…the young players: All of the young players have their own strengths and skills that can be important to the team at certain times. It’s also important how they look during games – they are totally different to training sessions. There are always lads that impress in training and others that depend on minutes in matches. We definitely have a few really interesting young players, however it would be wrong to pick any out.

…the injured and ill players: Jordan Beyer suffered a minor muscle injury in training, but it’s nothing serious. He will be out for around two weeks. Luca Netz has had Covid and is being tested here every day to see if he can travel home normally. Ramy has stayed at home as he is also positive. We obviously hope to have all the lads back together soon.

…the squad: The upcoming friendlies will be very important. The coach will try a number of things out. We will then look at what we’ve seen and decide how balanced our squad is. I think it’s generally got a lot of depth. Nonetheless, we may have some fresh thoughts after these games. We will have to see what the ideal squad looks like. Possible injuries can also play a role. It would obviously be nice to have our squad set before the first matchday, however that’s often not possible these days. There are certain things that you simply can’t influence.

…expiring contracts: You obviously have the chance during the training camp to speak to players whose contracts are expiring. We’ve done that with those players. They know what we want and we know what they want. We will announce things as soon as there is any news.