Eintracht Frankfurt Add $19.6 Million Rated Robin Koch On Loan

Quietly, Eintracht Frankfurt is building a strong squad for the 2023/24 Bundesliga season. After signing Dino Toppmöller to replace former head coach Oliver Glasner, Frankfurt has already secured highly sought-after defensive midfielder Ellyes Shkiri from Köln, Hugo Larsson from Malmö, Junior Dina Ebimbe from PSG, and Willian Pacho from Antwerp. Then on Thursday, the club also added center-back Robin Koch on loan from Leeds United.

Although criticized in England after a poor season with Leeds in which very few players had an opportunity to shine, Koch might very well become the centerpiece of a Frankfurt rebuild. The 26-year-old played 73 games for Leeds in the Premier
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League. In fact, with 3,387 minutes overall, Koch was the most-used player by Leeds last season.

“In addition to the young and very talented players we’ve brought in, for us it was important to add qualities like experience and leadership to our defense in order to help keep the team structure stable,” Frankfurt director of sport Markus Krösche said in a club statement. “Robin was one of the team captains in Leeds, he’s played for the German national team, and he’ll also play a leading role with us.

Koch was one of the very few players at Leeds to improve his Transfermarkt market value. The German national team player (eight games) saw his market value improve from €16 million to €18 million ($17.4 million to $19.6 million) last season. According to Transfermarkt, Koch is now the most valuable center-back at Frankfurt, a position that was previously held by Evan N’Dicka, who joined Roma on a free transfer this summer.

“[Koch is] almost 27, so is the perfect age for a footballer, and on top of that, he’s gained valuable experience in the Bundesliga and the Premier League, which he’ll bring to our team,” Krösche said. “A lot of big-name clubs were interested in him in recent weeks, but the fact that he decided to come to us shows just how much Robin identifies with the task at hand. That’s a very good and important basis for a positive working partnership.”

But can Koch step straight in and replace N’Dicka next season? First and foremost, where N’Dicka played as a right center-back, Koch is more comfortable playing the left part of a two-man center-back pairing. But Koch has also played in a three-man defense under former Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa and then last season was also used as a center-back.

In terms of underlying stats, there are also some differences when comparing the two players on Wyscout. While N’Dicka leads the two players with 61.54% vs 28.57% successful sliding tackles and accurate passes overall (88.27% vs 83.13%), it is Koch with the more favorable stats in most other key categories over the last season.

Koch led N’Dicka in aerial duels per 90 minutes (5.21 vs 3.62), aerial duels won (58.6% vs 55.62%), defensive duels per 90 minutes (6.06 vs 5.94), defensive duels won (68% vs 62.45%) and defensive actions per 90 minutes (9.55 vs 9.33). Koch was also more accurate when it came to playing out a long pass from the back and was also more likely to play that pass in the first place.

In other words, while Koch is more comfortable on the right, his defensive stats are an upgrade over the recently departed N’Dicka—despite playing for a relegated side in the Premier League. Furthermore, Koch’s experience will also help guide young defenders like the Brazilian Tuta and new arrival Pacho, and the loan move from Leeds United could, therefore, turn out to become a steal for the Eagles.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcastand the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth