Official | Eintracht Frankfurt win race to sign red-hot attacking prospect Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab, Forest striker Arnaud Kalimuendo set to follow | OneFootball

Eintracht Frankfurt have officially won the race to sign red-hot attacking prospect Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab from the Hoffenheim reserves. Multiple reliable German footballing media sources are also reporting that Eintracht are set to sign another attacking addition, Nottingham Forest striker Arnaud Kalimuendo. The Hessian Bundesliga outfit acts quickly to address its January transfer window needs.

Who is Ayoube Amaimouni-Echghouyab?

The 21-year-old attacker burst onto the scene this season for TSG II in the 3. Liga. Amaimouni-Echghouyab’s nine goals and seven assists in the German third division rendered him a highly sought-after commodity by multiple Bundesliga clubs during the current window. The same can fairly be said about another lower league prospect of German-Moroccan heritage who was a hitherto unknown.

Eintracht also won the race to sign 2. Bundesliga leading scorer Younes Ebnoutalib. Unlike €10m purchase Ebnoutalib, Amaimouni-Echghouyab is not expected to be able to contribute right away. Amaimouni-Echghouyab – who has cost the SGE a reported €200,000 – will be given time to make the leap from 3. Liga to Bundesliga level. 

How will the Arnaud Kalimuendo deal work?

Florian Plettenberg reports that Eintracht have reached an agreement with Forest on a loan with a purchase option. The medical is nevertheless not scheduled to take place until later this week, meaning official confirmation may take some time. 

Words on Amaimouni-Echghouyab’s move

“We are aware that the jump across two leagues requires a certain amount of time to get up to speed, but we are confident that Ayoube will quickly adapt to the new demands via the time and support we will give him,” Frankfurt sporting director Timmo Hardung noted in a club statement released on the SGE website. “With his dribbling skills, dynamism, and goal-scoring threat, he expands our versatility on the offensive wing. His rapid development has attracted attention not only in Germany but also internationally. We are all the more delighted that he has decided to join us and embrace the clear plan we have shown him.”

“Ayoube has made great strides in his year and a half at TSG Hoffenheim,” Hoffenheim development director Frank Kramer added in his own statement on Amaimouni-Echghouyab’s departure. “He came to us from a fifth-division club and has developed into an up-and-coming young professional in our U23 team,” says Kramer. Hehas now decided against the long-term prospects offered to him at TSG and informed us after the end of the first half of the season that he would like to pursue a different path.“

GGFN | Peter Weis