Where do Eintracht Frankfurt’s new attacking signings fit in to Dino Toppmöller’s plans for 2026?
Eintracht Frankfurt have been active in the transfer market, replenishing their attacking options with the likes of Younes Ebnoutalib and Arnaud Kalimuendo, among others. Get the lowdown on their new winter arrivals and how they might be deployed in 2026…
Despite netting the joint-third most goals league-wide in the opening 15 matchday of the season (30), Frankfurt's attack was in something of a state of flux come the winter break.
Top scorer Jonathan Burkardt suffered a calf injury in late November which is expected to leave him sidelined into February. Meanwhile, his understudy, Michy Batshuayi, quickly followed suit in early December, suffering a metatarsal fracture in the Matchday 13 thrashing at the hands of RB Leipzig, which will also keep him out for several months.
Watch: Frankfurt’s conveyor belt of talent
Additionally, French forward Elye Wahi's loan switch to Nice on 1 January left Frankfurt even more short. Nevertheless, as they so often do, Eintracht have conducted shrewd business in the transfer market to bolster their attack with some truly exciting young talents.
Refreshing their forward line is nothing new for the Eagles, who have had to continually rebuild their attack following numerous high-profile offensive exits in recent years, which include Hugo Ekitiké, Omar Marmoush, Randal Kolo Muani, Sébastien Haller and Luka Jović.
Whilst new left-back Keita Kosugi was first through the door at Deutsche Bank Park this window, the first attacking recruitment to arrive was 22-year-old Ebnoutalib.
Watch: Eintracht's Ebnoutalib ecstatic
A Frankfurt native, Ebnoutalib joins from Bundesliga 2 outfit Elversberg, where he had enjoyed a scintillating start to the season, netting 12 times in 17 appearances to become the league's outright top scorer at the halfway-mark.
Although still relatively inexperienced, with 22 total career goals across 74 senior competitive appearances in Germany and Italy's lower leagues, Ebnoutalib's mentality means he is constantly looking at ways to develop his game and learn new skills.
Upon his signing, the young striker earmarked former Elversberg teammate Fisnik Asllani, who has impressed in the Bundesliga since rejoining parent club Hoffenheim at the start of the season, as a source of inspiration.
Ebnoutalib revealed: "In Asllani, [Elversberg] had a striker ahead of me who was scoring regularly. I tried to pick up new things every day, to learn and work hard on my own game. I was rewarded for that. The most important piece of advice I received was to never give up and to always keep going."
If Ebnoutalib hits the ground running for Frankfurt like Asllani, who is currently the joint-seventh top scorer in the league with six goals in 15 appearances, Eintracht fans have every reason to be excited.
However, Ebnoutalib is not the only striker to have arrived at Frankfurt this window; another eagle has landed in the form of Kalimuendo. The 23-year-old has joined on a loan deal until the end of the season - with an option to buy - from English Premier League side Nottingham Forest.
Despite being just one year Ebnoutalib's senior, Kalimuendo brings a wealth of experience with him. A product of Paris Saint-Germain's prestigious youth academy, Kalimuendo enjoyed a fruitful loan spell at Lens before a permanent switch to Rennes brought the youngster further success prior to his move to England last summer.
In total, Kalimuendo has made 196 senior competitive career appearances, scoring 63 goals in the process. However, for Forest - who have struggled in the Premier League this season - that tally stands at just two goals in 14 appearances, with both efforts coming in the UEFA Europa League.
At Eintracht, the forward has the perfect opportunity to recapture the form which made him such a sought-after prospect last summer, especially as, in addition to his impressive scoring record at club level, Kalimuendo can boast 23 goals and five assists in 52 caps for France’s youth teams.
Speaking on his arrival, Eintracht's board member for sport Markus Krösche highlighted the player's qualities, asserting: “In Kalimuendo, we’re signing a forward who, despite his young age, has performed at a consistently high level in Ligue 1. He has pace, makes runs behind the defence and is a clinical finisher, and he also works really hard off the ball."
Nevertheless, given that both Kalimuendo and Ebnoutalib have historically tended be to deployed as sole centre-forward, Dino Toppmöller does have something of a selection headache. However, with the fixtures coming thick and fast, Toppmöller may opt to rotate them, especially having himself often used a system with one striker since Burkardt's arrival.
Kalimuendo, standing at 5'8'', and Ebnoutalib, coming in at 6'3'', also give Toppmöller the opportunity to replicate the formula which allowed the strike-partnership of Marmoush and Ekitiké to tear up the Bundesliga in the first half of the 2024/25 season.
Watch: Marmoush and Ekitiké shining in 2024/25
Last term, Frankfurt's head coach chose to predominantly deploy the duo in a 4-4-2 system - a decision which worked wonders at Deutsche Bank Park.
With those two leading the line, Frankfurt soared to their best-ever points return from the first half of a season, before qualifying for the UEFA Champions League via the Bundesliga for the first time in the club's history - despite losing Marmoush to Manchester City in January.
Whatever Toppmöller decides, further selection challenges may also be presented by the arrivals of talented young winger Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab from Hoffenheim, as well as 17-year-old Swedish starlet Love Arrhov from Brommapojkarna.
Whilst unlikely to start at Frankfurt just yet, the former netted seven goals and amassed nine assists in 28 appearances for the Sinsheim outfit's U23 side in the Regionalliga Southwest last term, which earned them promotion to the 3. Liga.
Needing no time to adjust to the third tier, Amaimouni-Echghouyab registered nine goals and six assists in 18 outings this campaign before this switch. Arrhov, meanwhile, enjoyed a breakout year in 2025, netting two goals in 22 appearances across all competitions for Brommapojkarna's first string.
Given this influx of new attacking options, Frankfurt will certainly be one to watch in 2026, especially after Burkardt and Batshuayi return. Expect to see a new-look Frankfurt side when they take on Borussia Dortmund at home on Matchday 16 to kick off the Bundesliga action in 2026.
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