Belated happy 60th birthday, Mr. Hartenbach. Were you able to celebrate at all during this extremely busy period of the year with the end of the transfer window?
Hartenbach: Having your birthday at the end of August as a sporting director is pretty unfortunate (laughs). There have been a few birthdays where the guests have been sat in the living room and I’ve been at my computer in the kitchen. This year though, Jochen Saier (board member for sport) was working hard on a few departures. Things weren’t as hectic regarding players coming in to the club on this occasion, mainly thanks to the great work done by lots of people at SC, who ensured we got our business done nice and early.
Are you referring to the deals done to bring Eren Dinkçi and Patrick Osterhage in, completed back in April?
Hartenbach: Those were two key positions that we wanted to sort and we managed to get that done early on. We knew we would need someone in central midfield after Yannik Keitel’s departure, and we found someone in Patrick who has a lot of SC qualities in his game. Up front, we’ve lacked some pace since Kevin Schade left the club. We therefore brought in Eren, someone who possesses so much speed. That was one side to it.
And what was the other?
Hartenbach: Positive developments during pre-season, such as young players from our academy, players who had been injured for a while and players who have just come on leaps and bounds, such as Junior Adamu. Johan Manzambi and Bruno Ogbus, who we promoted from our academy, have also developed nicely. It was also great that Max Rosenfelder has been so impressive after his long spell on the sidelines. We then managed to find a really good option for our third-choice goalkeeper in Jannik Huth. Overall, we said to ourselves that if we keep the lads together, we feel comfortable and have an ‘SC like’ squad.
When it comes to deadline day though, it doesn’t matter how well SC have planned things, you and Jochen Saier will still have to sit at your desks and see what happens.
Hartenbach: It’s not that extreme, but the chaos of the market does push things back a bit. Clubs who don’t take as much care when it comes to their accounts just say: We’ll get someone we want in the end with all our money. I always ask myself: What kind of planning is going on at these clubs? They take their time and this then is like a chain reaction. Other clubs then have problems because financially lucrative offers come in for their players very late on in the window.
How do you deal with this development?
Hartenbach: By doing what we do earlier and with more clarity. We sit down with these players that are still on long-term contracts, but belong to this group of potential players, at the end of April or the start of May and tell them clearly that we’re planning with them, we value them and we want to keep them here for the coming season. If the player sees things the same as we do, we’ll go into the new campaign with a good feeling. However, you cannot blame a player for being tempted by a financially lucrative offer. In the event that happens, we as SC Freiburg can go along with it and try to get as much money as we possibly can for the transfer. If we don’t accept the offer, because the player cannot be equally replaced, especially in the final week of the transfer window, then there might be some unrest. But, I think we’ve done well so far, even if there’s a lot of work involved, including convincing players at times.
At least the proceeds from a transfer can serve as a consolation.
Hartenbach: But it’s incredibly difficult to find replacements for key players. For example, if we let a player go for €20 million, then there are many that will think ‘well, just sign someone else for €10 million and you’ll have made €10 million in profit.’ But there’s a corresponding salary on top of that, and we have a framework that we need to keep in mind as well. The problem at the minute is that a player that costs €10 million is usually still considered a young talent and there’s no guarantee that he’ll make an immediate impact in the Bundesliga. Even 19 or 20 year olds are commanding incredible high prices now, although they have only been able to prove that they know how to score in the lower leagues and still need time to develop. At the moment there’s a huge demand for players like that — almost as objects of speculation.
Is the squad a little big this season?
Hartenbach: We had a lot of injuries last season. If we’d managed to deal with them a little better then I’m certain that we would be taking part in three competitions this season. With that experience in mind, we don’t want to run the same risk again. I see the size of our squad as a positive and think that it will help the players motivate each other. Everyone will have a chance to prove themselves if they do well in training, that’s the approach our coaching staff are taking.
No easy task for Julian Schuster & Co.
Hartenbach: Of course, on the one hand you have young players coming up through the ranks that have to be taught patience at one point or another — a difficult task for any coaching staff. You also have to be prepared to step in when players that have almost always played then don’t get to play as often. These transitions aren’t always easy to handle, for the players or the club. But, this is a competitive sport and such situations are part of it. We have worked to ensure that we have a balanced squad. As a result, there are some players that won’t always be able to feature. That’s the great art of a coaching team, of an entire club — to be able to balance that well. At SC, we’ve been managing such processes very well for a long time, in my opinion.
Squad planning at SC is always done in close cooperation with the coaching staff. What was the transition like from Christian Streich to his successor?
Hartenbach: To sum it up: splendid. On a personal level, it was fantastic that we were able to involve both of them in all discussions. It was very open and always in the interests of the club — including the handover of the team. But we already knew that beforehand. Christian may have been the face of SC Freiburg on the outside, but on the inside he was an absolute team player. I can say the same thing about Julian, who has been very much influenced by his time with Christian in sporting terms, but above all in his dealings with the team as a player and assistant coach. He’s now quite unpretentiously adopting things that he believes will benefit the team, while also carving his own path.
What do you make of the way the team have started the season with these changes?
Hartenbach: I’ve seen a lot of positives. Against a strong VfB Stuttgart side, the team didn’t let their heads drop after suffering an early setback and instead continued to work together and stick to our tactics. Against Bayern, we also defended well, forced them into giving up possession and only conceded a few chances. Now it’s a bit like putting together a puzzle, piecing together these positives on a consistent basis. Overall, I have a good feeling because it was clear from the first few games that this is a team with a foundation that you can count on.
Photo: SC Freiburg