Hertha Berlin managing director of sport Fredi Bobic is a busy man. After successfully rebuilding Eintracht Frankfurt between 2016 and 2021, the 50-year-old joined Hertha this summer. It has been a busy time as the 50-year-old is trying to restructure a club that saw heavy investments by Lars Windhorst, a turbulent period under Jürgen Klinsmann, and then was struck by the Covid-19 pandemic. On Thursday, Bobic took some time to speak to a handful of reporters about Hertha's ongoing restructuring process.
"We have to be realistic at the moment," Bobic said. "As always, it is not easy to take over a new club; they have been at the bottom fighting against relegation and then succeeded in staying in the league." The fight against relegation came in the footsteps of Windhorst, investing almost $500 million in the club. "A lot of the investment is now gone anyways," Bobic said.
Hertha spent the money freely. According to Transfermarkt, the club spent $121.77 million in the 2019/20 season and another $29.98 million in 2020/21. Many of the players are now gone as Bobic restructured the roster ahead of this season. The club spent another $28.16 million last summer but also earned $53.35 million from selling stars like Matheus Cunha (to Atlético Madrid) and Jhon Córdoba (Krasnodar).
Stars that were top earners but did not always fulfill the high expectations associated with their high transfer fees. Players like Suat Serdar, Marco Richter, Myziane Maolida, Oliver Christensen, Jurgen Ekkelenkamp, Ishak Belfodil, Kevin-Prince Boateng, and Stefan Jovetic were brought in either because of their mentality or because they are players that can still be developed.
With the exception of older stars Boateng and Jovetic, none of the players were household names. Boateng and Jovetic are sort of the dads in the dressing room, brought in to guide a young team. "Mentality always beats quality," Bobic said.
"The money from the investor can't be just spent on players," Bobic said. "One of our targets this summer was not to just spend in the first team but also in the second team and the academy. To increase the budget. The city of Berlin is full of recruiters for other clubs; Bayern Munich, for example, is very aggressive here."
Another element is the new stadium. Hertha Berlin play at the Olympiastadion. Constructed for the 1936 Olympics and renovated ahead of the 2006 World Cup, the stadium has 75,000 seats and a running track. "It is a great stadium for our big games or the DFB Pokal final. But it isn't ideal for us, on a day-to-day basis," Bobic said. "But I am on the project of getting us a new stadium and in constant communication with the new Berlin senate that was voted in last fall."
The new stadium is undoubtedly a big task for Bobic, and the 50-year-old mentioned the vicinity of the current stadium as the preferred location for a new facility. "We would invest our own money and not take anything from the taxpayer. The signals have been very positive."
A new stadium would certainly help Herthat to unlock the club's potential. Like Eintracht Frankfurt, Hertha is considered a sleeping giant, and Bobic wants to unleash that potential. "Although football is all about results, we always have to keep the long-term project in mind," Bobic said. "The new stadium could be a game-changer. For now, the most important part is to come out healthy of this pandemic."
Could Hertha ever get close to Bayern, and what would it take to dislodge the Rekordmeister? "You know first of all they do good work at Bayern," Bobic said. "It is all about the Champions League; if you play there for 20 to 25 years in a row, then the gap becomes really big," Bobic said. "We have to think of the structure. I am a fan of having a bit more money every year and growing healthy. A big one is 50+1. We support 50+1, but I have to be realistic; it will be gone at some point."
Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and 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
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