Eintracht Frankfurt kicked off the new season with a commanding 11-0 DFB-Pokal first-round win at SC St. Tönis, but the scoreline flatters a club still dealing with serious structural problems as the Bundesliga opener at Union Berlin on August 29 approaches.

The goalkeeper situation remains the most pressing concern at the Deutsche Bank Park. A 0-7 pre-season loss to Brentford exposed glaring weaknesses between the posts and forced new head coach Adi Hütter into an urgent rethink. Both Kaua Santos and Michael Zetterer have failed to convince, and the club identified SC Freiburg's Noah Atubolu as their preferred solution. That pursuit has proved complicated. Atubolu spent the summer waiting on a Premier League move that never materialised, split from his agency Epic Sports in frustration, and has since warmed to the idea of joining Frankfurt, describing it as his most stable option. Freiburg, though, are demanding at least 15 million euros, and concrete talks have not yet started. A report linking Zetterer to Leeds United was firmly denied by the player's agent, adding further uncertainty to the situation.

Defensively, the problems extend beyond the goalkeeper. Captain Robin Koch suffered a cervical spine injury during the Brentford defeat, intensifying the search for an experienced centre-back. Thilo Kehrer of Monaco and free agent Diogo Leite are among the names under consideration, though financial constraints complicate every move. Frankfurt have generated a transfer surplus this summer, largely through the 50-million-euro sale of Nathaniel Brown to Bayern Munich, but the failure to qualify for European competition limits their spending power. With the transfer window closing on September 1, Hütter and sporting director Markus Krösche have little time to resolve a squad that, by the coach's own admission, is not yet where it needs to be.