Eintracht Frankfurt head into the new season under serious pressure after a humiliating 0-7 pre-season defeat to Brentford exposed deep squad problems and triggered an urgent rethink in the transfer market. The result, Frankfurt's final warm-up before competitive football resumes, was not just a heavy loss but a catalyst for significant decisions that had been building throughout the summer.

The most pressing concern is the goalkeeper position. Kaua Santos had another poor performance against Brentford, and reports from kicker, via Spox, indicate Frankfurt are now actively pursuing Noah Atubolu from SC Freiburg as their new number one. Sporting director Markus Krösche had publicly ruled out any changes in goal during pre-season training camp, but the Brentford result changed his thinking. Atubolu's asking price of around 20 million euros may prove too high, and Sport1 reports that former Bayer Leverkusen keeper Lukas Hradecky, now at AS Monaco, is also under consideration.

The Brentford defeat also deepened concerns over captain Robin Koch, who left the field with a cervical spine injury and did not travel back to Frankfurt with the squad, according to Bild via Goal. A diagnosis is still pending. New signing Otavio, forming the centre-back partnership with Koch, struggled and remains physically short of match fitness by Adi Hütter's own admission.

With the squad still too large and several players earmarked for departure, including Elye Wahi, Ellyes Skhiri and Michy Batshuayi, Frankfurt face a compressed window to reshape their squad before the Bundesliga opener at Union Berlin on August 29. First up is the DFB-Pokal first-round trip to fifth-tier SC St. Tönis on August 21.