Bayern Munich's sporting director Max Eberl says that Leon Goretzka will not be exiled if he stays at the club after the transfer window closes.

Under Thomas Tuchel last season, Goretzka started in 25 of his 30 Bundesliga appearances, winning 23 of his 41 tackles, only ranking sixth highest in the Bayern squad. 

The midfielder looks to have slipped down the pecking order since Vincent Kompany's arrival, playing a bit-part role during pre-season.

Goretzka, who has made 221 appearances since joining from Schalke in 2018, was left out of the squad for their 4-0 win over Ulm in the first round of the DFB-Pokal last Friday.

However, he did start Tuesday's 4-0 friendly win over Grasshopper Club Zurich, playing just over an hour as he filled a gap in defence after it was confirmed Josip Stanisic will miss the start of the season after undergoing knee surgery.

Goretzka's future is no clearer heading into the start of the season, with only tentative links to Liverpool or Barcelona being reported.

The German is reportedly keen to fight for his place in Kompany's squad, and Eberl says that will be a possibility if he is still at the club at the end of the transfer window.

"At Bayern Munich, there's no second training group," he told Sky Sports Germany. "Leon is a great player and played well today. If he stays, he will be a full member of our squad."

While speaking to Abendzeitung, he said: "We never spoke badly about Leon. He has done great things for FC Bayern.

"Competitive situations are quite normal in football. Leon is a full member of the team. We only hinted that it could be difficult."

Bayern's final pre-season game ended in another dominant win, with Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Mathys Tel and Thomas Muller netting the goals.

They will begin their season against Wolfsburg on Sunday, and Eberl noted the importance of the extra preparation before they launch a title challenge.

"It was important that we had another test to get fit, to internalize the processes and new ideas," Eberl told Bayern's media channels.

"It's a positive result, we didn't concede a goal. We are satisfied

"We have a new coaching team that brings new energy into the dressing room. We showed decent performances in the preparation, and now we want to win every game."

Bayern Munich sporting director Max Eberl has suggested Joshua Kimmich's future at the club could be in question, saying no player is guaranteed a regular starting place.

Kimmich has entered the final 12 months of his contract with Bayern, who he joined in 2015 and has helped win eight Bundesliga titles and one Champions League.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Manchester City have all been linked with a move for the 29-year-old, who endured a difficult 2023-24 campaign.

Kimmich reportedly had a strained relationship with former Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel, as the club saw their 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga title ended by Bayer Leverkusen.

Speaking to Welt am Sonntag, Eberl hinted every player in the Bayern squad must prove themselves ahead of Vincent Kompany's first season in charge.

"Joshua is a very good player, but it is generally true that professional football is a competitive sport," Eberl said. 

"We cannot say to any player; 'Hey, you are the one who is going to play.

"I'm just saying what applies to everyone. We have exciting players in all positions and therefore many alternatives."

Bayern strengthened their midfield options by clinching a deal for Fulham's Joao Palhinha earlier this month, having already signed Michael Olise from Crystal Palace.

Eric Dier will remain at Bayern Munich for another season after a pre-agreed clause was met, the Bundesliga giants have said.

The 30-year-old joined Bayern on loan from Tottenham in January and has made seven appearances.

With Dier’s Spurs contract set to expire on June 30, an option to make his transfer permanent if he played a certain number of games was included in the deal.

Dier’s stay at Bayern will now run until at least June 30, 2025, and he said on fcbayern.com: “I’m happy in Munich. Now my future is sorted and I can focus on playing well for the club and trying to help the club to win games, win competitions, even though it’s been a difficult period for us.”

Dier had made only four appearances for Spurs this season, three of them off the bench, before following former team-mate Harry Kane to Germany.

The news officially brings to an end Dier’s time at Tottenham, where he made 365 appearances during a nine-and-a-half-year spell.

Max Eberl, FC Bayern board member for sport, said: “He’s a valuable support in our defence with all his character.”

Enzo Fernandez is the epitome of the type of footballer Germany must look to produce, according to RB Leipzig sporting director Max Eberl.

Benfica midfielder Fernandez had an outstanding World Cup for Argentina and has since been linked with a host of major European clubs, prompting speculation of a move in the January transfer window.

The 21-year-old was an all-action figure in the team that carried off the trophy, and Eberl said Fernandez and Rodrigo de Paul were players whose industry caught the eye.

Eberl, previously sporting director at Borussia Monchengladbach for 14 years, is considered one of German football's smartest thinkers.

He wants to see leaders produced and believes that character trait can be as significant as skill.

"We should have this heart for the cause more into focus again. We have recently moved away a bit from the German virtues such as robustness and assertiveness," Eberl said.

In an interview with Kicker magazine, Eberl spoke of the players who are approaching the end of their international careers.

With Germany hosting Euro 2024, this is a moment where the pressure is on to deliver a winning team, and the World Cup group-stage exit suggests coach Hansi Flick is a long way off establishing such a group.

Eberl said: "I think we have outstanding football players in Germany, but we also know that we will lose very important players like Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller and Ilkay Gundogan.

"We need players like Enzo Fernandez or Rodrigo de Paul with the Argentines. Good footballers who act with total dedication and the ability to work as part of a team. We've lost a bit of that greed to win every single duel."

Among players from teams who reached the World Cup knockout stage and contested at least 60 duels, only Croatia's Mateo Kovacic in the select group of 16 bettered Fernandez's 59 per cent success rate (40 of 68 duels won).

Germany goalkeeper Neuer broke his leg in a skiing accident after the World Cup and will be sidelined for the rest of the season. He is 36, while his Bayern Munich team-mate Muller is 33 and Manchester City midfielder Gundogan is 32. They are in the twilight of their international careers, and the new generation has yet to show it can deliver the success Germany expects.

Eberl added: "Time is clearly against us, because we will only see in the next 10 to 15 years what we have missed.

"We have to get more boys into football again. And one question would be: does it make sense to have youth academies up to under-eight or should we leave the boys in their clubs and start with the junior academies later?"

RB Leipzig have appointed the highly rated Max Eberl as their new sporting director well over a year after Markus Krosche left the position.

Eberl has been out of work since resigning from a similar role at Borussia Monchengladbach in January due to feeling "drained and tired" and no longer having "the strength to carry out the job in the way the club deserves".

That brought to an end a 23-year association with Borussia, having initially joined them as a player in 1999 before moving into directorial positions from 2005.

Leipzig had operated without a permanent sporting director since the club and Krosche mutually terminated their agreement in April 2021 following "intensive discussions regarding the club's future".

Christopher Vivell, Florian Scholz and Frank Aehlig had been filling the void in the interim, but in Eberl, club chairman Oliver Mintzlaff believes Leipzig have the perfect candidate to take them forward when he assumes office on December 15 after signing a "long-term" contract.

"With Max Eberl, we were able to fill the position of managing director for sport with our absolute dream candidate," Mintzlaff said.

"We have been dealing with Max for a long time but have always respected his difficult situation and are now very happy to be able to start working together in December.  

"After his press conference in January this year, I got in touch with Max and wished him all the best. After that, I kept trying to get in touch, but Max told me that he needed peace and quiet and wasn't interested in football, but that we could meet up in the summer. That's why I never let go of contact and met him in the summer.

"Here, Max confirmed to me that he finds the perspective with us very interesting, but he did not want to come back before July 1, 2023. But that opened the door a bit for us, and we are now very happy that together with Max we found the starting point of our cooperation for mid-December.

"Max is an absolute football expert and has a large network and an excellent name in the industry both nationally and internationally. For many years in Monchengladbach he showed how you can build something up and find the right solution even for difficult situations.

"He has proven himself both as a transfer expert and as a promoter of talent, achieved a great deal and delivered a successful job."

Eberl took over football operations at Gladbach in October 2009 – at that point, they had not ended a top-flight season higher than 10th since 1996.

During his time in charge, the club finished higher than 10th in 10 successive seasons and even managed four top-four finishes in the Bundesliga.

One of those came with Marco Rose as head coach, and the pair will link up again in Leipzig after the 46-year-old replaced Domenico Tedesco at the helm earlier this month.

Eberl was still technically contracted to Borussia, but the club agreed to dissolve their partnership, thus allowing him to join Leipzig.

Borussia Monchengladbach sporting director Max Eberl has stepped down from the role after becoming "drained" and "tired".

Eberl has served in the post for 13 years but confirmed on Friday at an emotional news conference that he was calling it quits.

The former Gladbach defender, who signed as a player in 1999, revealed that he was no longer enjoying the job.

"This is by far the hardest press conference I have had to hold in my time as sporting director at Borussia," said Eberl. 

"I am drained. I am tired. I just no longer have the energy to carry on fulfilling this role in the way the club deserves.

"After 23 years [with Gladbach], I'm calling time on what has become my life. My work here has always been a joy, but there are things in and around the job that are no fun any more."

He leaves at a time when Adi Hutter's side are slipping down the table amid a run of just four points from the past eight games, while second-tier Hannover dumped them out of the DFB-Pokal this month.

But Eberl, who extended his contract in 2020, insists the team's slide has nothing to do with his decision.

"I can understand the people who might question the timing of my decision with the position the club is in," he said. 

"But I just don't have the strength to keep doing this job the way I have for so long.

"I extended my contract 13 months ago and would never have thought that I'd be sitting here today. I'm somebody who puts 100 per cent into everything I do. I have done that for 13 years as sporting director."

Speaking about his plans for life after football, he added: "I just want to be Max Eberl. I want to see the world and just focus on myself for once in my life.

"I haven't made this decision in order to move to another club. For now, I don't want anything to do with football.

"My wish is for football to be the focus rather than making a circus of everything surrounding it. I feel like more respect is needed. There had already been abuse and rumours about my decision before I had even said a single word.

"You don't have to worry about me. I will enjoy myself and perhaps I'll just fall off the map for a while. It was an honour to be able to work for Borussia Mönchengladbach."

Adi Hutter apologised to supporters after his Borussia Monchengladbach team were trounced 6-0 at home by Freiburg, with all six goals coming in a remarkable first half.

High-flying Freiburg became the first team ever in the Bundesliga to score five goals away from home inside the opening 25 minutes of a match, and Gladbach midfielder Patrick Herrmann bemoaned "a catastrophic performance".

Maximilian Eggestein and Kevin Schade put the visitors two up with only five minutes gone, before Philipp Lienhart, Nicolas Hofler, Lucas Holer and Nico Schlotterbeck got in on the act to shock those in attendance at Borussia-Park on Sunday.

Gladbach had previously been the only side to score five goals in the opening 25 minutes of a match, that coming at home to Braunschweig in October 1984.

The loss leaves Gladbach in 13th place in the Bundesliga, with just 18 points from 14 games, and head coach Hutter made clear after the game that it was an unacceptable performance and result.

"I am incredibly disappointed," Hutter told the official club website. "I'm also very sorry for the spectators who made their way to the stadium. We win together and we lose together.

"A few weeks ago, we beat Bayern 5-0 here and we were all over the moon. Today, we saw a match that should never have played out the way it did. Of course, we knew that Freiburg are strong from set-pieces and we prepared for that in training, but I had the feeling that we were paralysed from them.

"I don't have an explanation for that right now. First and foremost, we have to apologise for the way we played today. That is unacceptable. If you saw the level in training, you would never imagine that a performance like that could happen. But then when you're 5-0 down after 25 minutes, it's obviously very disconcerting."

Sporting directer Max Eberl also spoke to the club website, making mention of the Foals' "lethargy", saying: "We conceded two early goals, and you could see how nervy it made everyone. No one wanted the ball, although, to be honest, we didn't have much of the ball in the opening period anyway.

"We just had this inexplicable lethargy and didn't carry a threat at all. I'm a bit bewildered right now. Tomorrow is about picking ourselves back up and digesting the defeat. We conceded four goals in Cologne, and now six today, but we also didn't do enough going forward with enough incisiveness either."

Gladbach's Herrmann simply added: "It's hard to put the game into words. We had already thrown it away after a matter of minutes. We just weren't at the races at all in the first half – it was a catastrophic performance. If you're 4-0 down after 20 minutes and then concede the fifth goal, everyone knows that the game is over."