“I want to grow with the club”

… the training camp: “I expect us to come together as a team, to become a strong unit with good energy. Last season was really good and now we’re heading into a new campaign. Jonny [Burkardt] has joined us and we also have some young players. We want to integrate them all into the group and give them the confidence they need. Frankfurt is a team; it’s never about the individual. Together we can achieve our goals.”

… his development: “I’m very satisfied, last season was great for all of us. It’s always good when you can achieve your aims as a club. The boys welcomed me brilliantly from day one and that helped me to adapt very quickly. I think it was probably the best season of my career, also in terms of my personal satisfaction. I’m very happy in Frankfurt in every regard, and I’m sure we can still improve as a team. I want to grow with the club and take on more responsibility in future.” 

… the new season: “I’m expecting a good season, everyone will be in good form. It’s not easy to play in three competitions with a young team. We need to maintain our hunger to win and we’ll need our experienced players to lead the way in that regard, especially when we have midweek fixtures. We’ve got a lot of experience and leadership in the team thanks to Mario [Götze], Kevin [Trapp], Ellyes [Skhiri], Robin [Koch] and Rasmus [Kristensen], and as I said, I want to take on more responsibility too. It’s going to be tough and we’ll need a lot of energy, but we can achieve a great deal with the mentality we had last season. That’s what we’ll need.”

…his first goal:  “I had a bet with Dino Toppmöller last season, which I lost. Now I have to score this season, hopefully right away against Bremen [on Matchday 1 of the new season].”