Mo Dahoud was actually already out. At Eintracht, he no longer played a role in the summer, he was no longer part of the club’s plans – all those common phrases applied to him one hundred percent....
Mo Dahoud was actually already out. At Eintracht, he no longer played a role in the summer, he was no longer part of the club’s plans – all those common phrases applied to him one hundred percent.
This became especially clear when the plane with the Frankfurt team took off for the training camp in the USA last summer – without Dahoud. He didn’t get a ticket and was released to hold talks with other clubs.
All the other players who fell victim to the squad reduction in the summer quickly found new employers.
Dahoud, on the other hand – well, things got quiet around him. And stayed quiet. He didn’t find a new club, missed the training camp, but was back in Hesse for the season opener. Did he feel like the unloved son-in-law at a family dinner? We can only speculate.
He never showed his feelings outwardly. On the contrary. According to Eintracht coach Toppmöller, Dahoud never let himself go, wanted to fight through, and was “always there for the team.” As if he sensed that his chance would still come.
Crisis as an Opportunity?
Because when the club bosses sent such a clear farewell signal to Dahoud last summer, they hadn’t accounted for the crisis their club would find itself in just before the winter break.
On the one hand, there’s the injury list, which keeps getting longer and longer. In addition to Jonathan Burkardt’s absence, the injuries to Oscar Højlund and Michy Batshuayi have recently arrived as bad news in the Main metropolis.
On the other hand, the club, which was hyped up as Bayern’s main challenger in the summer, is really struggling on the pitch.
Defensively, 29 goals conceded in 13 games speaks for itself – you won’t find a worse defense in the league. But things aren’t going well up front either – the offense is partly injured, partly completely out of form. For example: Elye Wahi, who misses more chances from a few meters out than he collects as a scorer.
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Slowly but Surely...
Dahoud, meanwhile, slowly but surely stepped out of the shadows and back into the spotlight. At first, it was only enough for two short appearances. In the 1-0 home win against Mainz just over a month ago, the 29-year-old was on the tactics board for the first time in almost a year not on the sidelines with the bench candidates, but in the starting eleven.
The midfielder, born in Syria, didn’t set the world alight, but his 79-minute appearance meant a lot to him. After the game, he said: “For a footballer, there’s nothing better than being back on the pitch and winning together with the team.”
📸 KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV - AFP or licensors
Dahoud was also in the starting eleven in the 4-3 win against newly promoted Köln, delivered a solid performance, and even scored a goal. In the draw against Wolfsburg, he was at least substituted in; he “got to” experience the 0-6 thrashing in Leipzig from the start, and at Camp Nou he came off the bench. Aside from Eintracht’s total collapse in Leipzig, Dahoud has now played his way back into the team.
Will Dahoud Become the Face of the Turnaround?
This could continue – and maybe even get better. The midfielder could even become the symbol of Frankfurt’s turnaround.
How could that work? Dahoud needs to show his qualities on the ball again. He may not bring much pace, but he offers a lot of ball security and game intelligence to calm matches that threaten to slip away. In attack, he adds clever passes into the final third. Calmness and precision rather than high speed.
If he returns to top form, he can help. After all, Dahoud has rarely found himself left out for long.
He has already played 189 Bundesliga matches, 33 times in the Champions League, and especially shone at BVB with his possession and build-up play. For a short time, these footballing skills even earned him a call-up to the German national team under Joachim Löw – albeit only very briefly, but still.
The absence of Skhiri and Chaibi, who will be traveling to the Africa Cup of Nations, doesn’t make the personnel situation in Eintracht’s midfield any better – but it probably does for Dahoud personally. Both had recently often been preferred to him.
Dahoud is considered a seasoned pro and is still in his footballing prime. His qualities, combined with his ambition to prove his impact once again, and the situation at Eintracht, give him more than a good chance to secure a spot in the Frankfurt eleven after the winter break – and, in the best case, to become one of the faces of the turnaround on the Main. Now it’s all about how well he plays his cards.
What do you think – could Mo Dahoud become important in the coming weeks? Or is that too optimistic and do Krösche & Co. need to come up with something else for the midfield in the winter transfer window? Feel free to write it in the comments!
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Alex Bierens de Haan - 2025 UEFA
Category: General Sports
