Eintracht Frankfurt Coach Hütter Backs Santos Despite Humiliation

Adi Hütter is standing by his goalkeeper. For now.

The returning Eintracht Frankfurt coach confirmed that Brazilian keeper Santos will start the upcoming cup tie, even after the 0-7 humiliation at Brentford FC that has thrown the club’s goalkeeping situation back into the spotlight.

“The Brazilian will play,” Hütter said on Wednesday, before deliberately leaving the door open on the bigger question. A new keeper? That, he made clear, is still on the table. “Then we will see what else happens in future,” added the Austrian, offering no guarantees beyond the next game.

That defeat in London was more than just a bad day at the office. It ripped open an old wound. Santos, 23, has long divided opinion around the club, and the collapse against the Premier League side has intensified the scrutiny. Local and national reports now claim Hütter has lost faith in the young keeper as a long-term No. 1.

Names are already circling. Noah Atubolu of SC Freiburg is being discussed. So is a familiar face: former Eintracht goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky, currently at AS Monaco. Both are considered realistic candidates if Frankfurt decide to act in the market.

Hütter, though, refused to be drawn into transfer talk. Not on keepers, not on any other position. He swerved every attempt to pin him down on potential reinforcements, choosing instead to focus on the response to the Brentford collapse.

One key pillar of that response will be back in place. In the cup, Hütter expects to have captain and defensive leader Robin Koch available. Koch suffered a slight concussion in the Brentford match, raising fears he might miss the competitive opener. The coach moved quickly to calm those concerns. “I assume he will play,” he said.

Behind the scenes, the tone has been far less gentle. Hütter revealed he had already gone through the Brentford debacle in detail with his squad. No sugar-coating, no excuses.

“Something like that is absolutely not on in that form,” he said. The analysis, he stressed, was “clear.” The message just as sharp: that result, that performance, will not be tolerated. “It has been a warning shot.”

The warning has been fired. The question now is whether Santos and this Frankfurt side can prove it was heard.