Mein Kampf or Marc-Oliver Kempf???

By thegutterpoet79, January 11, 2014

The German U19 international centre-back. Marc-Oliver Kempf, whom we were close to signing last Summer, seems set to move to Turin on loan this month.

After negotiations fell flat last August, an agent involved the talks, Mino Grillo explained the situation as follows…

“Juve told him that he would be part of the first team squad and the Primavera side. But he rejected because he has the guarantee of playing more League games in Germany than in Italy where there is resistance in fielding youngsters.

“Then there is the fact that the Bundesliga is now worth more than Serie A.

“Nevertheless, the relationship between the two clubs remains good and I’m certain that negotiations could start again in January and the boy could change his mind.”

It seems that the man Google calls ‘Mr Cricket’ was correct in his hunch, for talks are said to have reopened between his club, Eintrach Frankfurt and Juve, and are fast gaining momentum. Despite the expectation of playing more games for the senior squad, the unsurprisingly gruesome looking german has taken part in only one game in the bundesliga.

The figures been broached are 500k for the loan, with 4.5m to make the move permanent. Which certainly seems a fair amount of gold nuggets to exchange for the ownership of a player with solely 4 first team appearances to his name. Although, he has been a regular for the German U19 since last September (8 caps), which is no mean feat for an 18 year old.

Whilst he is not part of the starting XI for Frankfurt, he is a regular for their U19 team and also Frankfurt II, which operates as their reserve squad, sticking to U23 players, acting as a bridge between the youth team and senior squad. They operate in the Regionalliga Südwest league, which is the fourth level down in German football (alongside other regional leagues). So whilst young Marc-Oliver hasn’t made strides with the first XI, he has managed 21 games for the German U19s and two other squads he is a part of, which is encouraging when added to his solitary bundesliga showing and europa league outing against Bordeaux for Frankfurt.

He certainly appears an interesting capture, yet probably too far down the development line to send into our primavera squad. Better off out on loan, playing with the men.

When I first started following Juve, we had two players who both looked like (my childish media presented idea at the time of) purebred nazis. Either of them could have played a role in the classic comedy series ‘allo ‘allo. ( Oh!! how delightful it is to remember Yvette!)

There is something about the Germans which causes as much intrigue and respect as fear and revulsion. As an Englishman, there are obvious issues in recent history to contend with, but of all the europeans I have met over the course of my travels, the Germs have often proven smart, dignified and polite. It is no surprise to see them striding ever onwards with robustness, whilst much of Europe shakes and rattles with economic toil and social disarray. And I am very eager to spend some time in Berlin this coming July…Who knows, maybe I can help scout a few more Mollers for Beppe???

As footballers, they come across as ruthless, sociopathic winning machines, never prone to nerves, fright, apprehension or anything remotely approaching the jitters. Give a German footballer 200 penalties, he will score 199, then shoot himself in the head for failing with the 200th and letting the side down. Perfection is the only way they know. Which is why…we really must bring one or two of their fierce tribe into our own ranks, where winning is all that matters.

Other Germans of the same ilk…

My instincts as a child were to relate such players with the evil rabbits in watership down…