Bundesliga
Seeing both Hugo Ekitiké and Omar Marmoush leave within months of each other for Liverpool and Manchester City respectively represents a huge challenge for Eintracht Frankfurt. But if history is anything to go by, it is one they will masterfully overcome.
A year can feel like a long time in football.
Only 23 minutes had passed in Frankfurt's first home fixture of the 2024/25 season against Hoffenheim last August when Marmoush and Ekitiké first combined their attacking powers to devastating effect in the campaign that both would seize to become top international strike stars.
Watch: Marmoush and Ekitiké run riot as Frankfurt beat Hoffenheim
Marmoush took a long pass down the left on a break and showed extraordinary vision to thread a ball through a small gap in the visitors' defence for Ekitiké to take round Oliver Baumann with swagger and slot in.
The forceful show of the pair's attacking might was followed minutes later by a moment of sheer footballing poetry as the Egyptian drifted inside from the left again to lay it towards Ekitiké - who held back this time and prodded a deft little pass for Hugo Larsson to chase behind the bewildered Hoffenheim backline and clip past Baumann.
After Ekitiké's move to Liverpool was confirmed, the pair are now the latest thrilling forwards to leave Frankfurt fans with fond memories. The club's proud record of developing attackers suggests there is every reason to expect to see big strike talents there again in the future.
Let's cast our minds back. The early 90s has a special place in the hearts of Frankfurt fans - and for good reason. The Eagles regularly challenged for the Bundesliga title, missing out by just two points in 1991/92 and topping the table at the halfway stage of 1993/94, with their engaging attacking football widely celebrated.
Two mercurial attackers epitomised that era for Eintracht. Jay-Jay Okocha was a joyful winger whose range of dinks and tricks were beyond what German football had ever seen at that time. Jürgen Klopp is far from alone in thinking his fabulously cheeky goal against a Karlsruhe side featuring Oliver Kahn in August 1993 is the greatest goal in Bundesliga history.
Watch: Okocha's wondergoal for Frankfurt against Kahn
While Okocha was leaving defenders in a twist from the wing, Tony Yeboah was busy scoring from here, there and everywhere. Ask anyone who followed the Bundesliga in the early 90s and they will likely rave about some of the Ghanaian's long-range stunners or acrobatic efforts as if they were netted yesterday.
The frequency of Yeboah's goals was frightening too, with his 38 strikes in just 49 Bundesliga appearances over the 1992/93 and 1993/94 seasons seeing him crowned the league's top goalscorer at the end of both campaigns.
Attackers with gifts of that magnitude simply do not come in the same side all too often, yet Frankfurt found further attacking fortune a generation later. The Eagles had a front three to cherish in 2018/2019 as Luka Jović, Ante Rebić and Sebastién Haller smashed 41 Bundesliga goals between them - and the so-called 'Buffalo Herd' followed that up with 16 goals in the UEFA Europa League as Eintracht made the semi-finals.
The trio had a superb mix of attacking weapons, with Rebić a winger with a real knack of turning inside and finding the net, Jović an artful finisher and Haller a canny penalty-box operator.
Watch: Jović scores five as Frankfurt beat Fortuna Dusseldorf 7-1 in 2018/19
Although the Buffalo Herd left for pastures new in summer 2019, it wasn't long until Frankfurt had their next goal hero: André Silva plundered a club record 28 goals in 32 league appearances in 2020/21, while Rafael Borré led the line with four goals in 12 European outings en route to their incredible 2022 Europa League triumph.
Frankfurt's fondness for attacking phenomena was then rekindled the following season as Randal Kolo Muani joined for 2022/23. The explosive Frenchman duly set the Bundesliga alight with a league-leading 26 goal involvements (15 goals and 11 assists) as the Eagles also made the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.
Watch: Frankfurt's Europa League celebrations
Fast forward to 2024/25 and something very special was seen in another Frankfurt strikeforce. Having joined on a permanent basis in summer 2024 following his loan spell from Paris Saint-Germain - the side Kolo Muani switched to in 2023 - Ekitiké truly flourished.
His opener against Hoffenheim was followed by another 14 over the season - including a memorable goal on the break in a 3-3 draw against Bayern Munich on Matchday 6 that was also teed up by Marmoush.
Marmoush impressed in 2023/24 with 12 goals - his best-ever Bundesliga haul - following his move from Wolfsburg. He shattered all pre-season expectations in 2024/25 by tormenting defence after defence and firing his way to an astonishing 15 goals in 17 appearances. Among the pick of those strikes was his brilliant brace against Bayern and stunning 30-yard free-kick in a 3-2 win in Stuttgart on Matchday 10.
Watch: Marmoush bids farewell to Frankfurt
Coupled with nine assists, he was cited as having the second-most goal involvements in Europe's five biggest leagues behind fellow Egyptian Mo Salah of Liverpool, by the time his departure for Manchester was announced.
Marmoush was given a hero's farewell by Frankfurt fans and teammates after the final whistle of the home encounter with Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 18. Six months later, Ekitiké would follow him to England.
Watch: All of Jonathan Burkardt's 2024/25 Bundesliga goals
With so many attackers making their name in the metropolis on the River Main, instead of reminiscing on those who have left, Frankfurt fans can rightly ask who is next in line?
Jonathan Burkardt could just prove to be the immediate answer. The summer signing from Mainz is set to provide a new element to the Frankfurt attack, with the kind of clinical touch and penchant for spectacular goals that harks back to Yeboah's era.
Burkardt has the additional advantage of being a 25-year-old Germany international with 41 Bundesliga goals already to his name - making a match between him and Frankfurt's superb attacking tradition a natural one.
Elye Wahi is another attacker on Frankfurt's books ready to burst into the limelight after joining in January from Marseille and making eight initial appearances for his new club despite suffering a knee injury in the spring. The 22-year-old boasts the pace to potentially fill Ekitiké's shoes more directly.
Watch: Eintracht Frankfurt's top 5 Bundesliga goals in 2024/25
Michy Batshuayi also joined in January and chipped in three goals during the second half of 2024/25. The 31-year-old Belgium international's experience coupled with his dependable goal threat is likely to give him a role in shaping Frankfurt's next attack.
There remains the possibility that the Eagles will swoop in the summer transfer market to add an exciting new attacker or two into the mix.
With a bold youthful squad that has qualified for the 2025/26 UEFA Champions League by finishing third in the Bundesliga, Eintracht undoubtedly offer a promising platform for the next strike stars to emerge and continue delighting the Deutsche Bank Park faithful.