Many of Rot-Weiss Essen’s contracts expire in the summer. Thomas Eisfeld has an option, but it is unlikely to be exercised.

Rot-Weiss Essen midfielder Thomas Eisfeld turned 31 in January. The veteran will therefore not sign many more contracts in his active career.

If his option is exercised, he won’t have to in the summer. Although his contract at Hafenstrasse expires on June 30, 2024, there is an option for the veteran to stay with RWE for another year.

The problem: the former Bochum player is unlikely to meet the parameters for an extension. In the current season in the 3rd division, he has made 15 appearances and scored four goals.

When he wasn’t injured – he was out for several weeks with a torn syndesmosis ligament in his knee – he was usually on the pitch. Rarely 90 minutes, but somehow he was almost always there.

One of the few exceptions was last Sunday’s home game against Borussia Dortmund’s U23s, where Eisfeld was on the bench for 90 minutes. It was the third time this season that he was left out of the squad.

The last time Thomas Eisfeld was not in the RWE squad

In the previous match, he was only substituted for twelve minutes. Perhaps it is also due to the option anchored in his contract that Eisfeld is suddenly playing a subordinate role.

The fact is: according to RS information, Eisfeld has a clause in his contract that guarantees him another year in red and white if he plays 60 percent of the minutes – based on the games in which he was available to coach Christoph Dabrowski without injury.

He missed just under ten games due to his injury, after which he was absent from the squad a few more times due to a training backlog. It is not clear whether these games count or not, but in any case his record would not improve.

One thing is certain: According to this calculation, he would have to play 972 minutes for his contract to be extended until June 30, 2025. Because in the 18 games he was theoretically available, he could have played a maximum of 1620 minutes. 60 percent of that is the 972 minutes.

Eisfeld has currently played 805 minutes – an average of 52.7 minutes in 15 appearances. If he remains injury-free in the last eight games of the season, he would have 2340 possible playing minutes. 60 percent of that would be 1404 minutes. That means he would have to play 599 minutes in the eight games. That’s an average of 74.9 minutes per match.

His playing time per game would therefore have to increase significantly. Whether Eisfeld’s contract is extended is therefore also in the hands of the coach