Born on this day in 1990 in Frankfurt is former Sunderland midfielder Jan Kirchhoff. A classy football player who could have done so much more if it wasn’t for persistent injury troubles.
As a youngster, Kirchhoff was a ballboy at Frankfurt whilst in their youth team. He then went to Mainz where he was given his chance as a senior player, having played for Germany Under-18s and Under-19s.
Originally signed as a midfielder, Kirchhoff moved to centre half due to his height (6 foot 5). During his time at Mainz, he received plaudits for his ability to play either in defence or as a defensive midfielder under the guidance of his manager Thomas Tuchel.
The towering German was seen as a great young talent at Mainz, and played almost 20 games for the Germany Under-21 side. European giants Bayern Munich came in for him in 2013, as a free agent.
Kirchhoff’s Bayern career never really got going, as he was limited by several injuries - the first of which came after just two appearances. In January 2016, Kirchhoff had played a meagre seven games for Bayern since signing back in 2013. He came to Sunderland for a rumoured fee of £750,000 alongside the likes of Lamine Kone and Wahbi Khazri.
We were struggling at the time as Big Sam hadn’t quite worked his miracle yet, and Kirchhoff was thrown in at the deep end with a substitute debut against Spurs a week after signing. It’s safe to say he sank rather than swam, as he scored an own goal and gave away a penalty in a 4-1 loss. Coincidentally, it was also Jordan Pickford’s senior debut that day.
Despite a debut to forget, Big Sam entrusted Kirchhoff to start against Man City a few weeks later. The German must have been incredible in training, as no Sunderland fan expected to see Kirchhoff start after a nightmare debut.
But he didn’t put a foot wrong through the 90 minutes, touching the ball more than any player on the pitch in a defensive midfield role. He was Man of the Match in many fans’ eyes, and despite losing 1-0 Allardyce described the game as “the best performance I’ve seen since I’ve been here”.
As we all know, Kirchhoff was an instrumental figure in Sunderland’s survival under Sam Allardyce. His fitness issues were still there, but they were managed correctly and we played a system that highlighted his fantastic tackling and passing range. He earned PFA Fans’ Player of the Month for April, when he started all five games that month.
However, Big Sam was replaced by David Moyes and we didn’t see the same Jan Kirchhoff the following season. There were rumours that Moyes refused to let Kirchhoff rest the same way Allardyce did, instead forcing him to train at the same intensity as everyone else which just caused injuries to catch up with him.
The midfielder admitted after leaving SAFC that he didn’t get on with the Scottish manager and his mind had been made up about leaving long before relegation was confirmed.
Since our relegation and Kirchhoff’s departure, he appeared a handful of times for Bolton before moving back to Germany - playing for both FC Magdeburg and KFC Uerdingen. Uerdingen ended up being his final club and, after his exit in 2021, has gone on to pursue a career in coaching. A really sad end to a career blighted by injuries, and you can’t help but wonder what could have been if Sam Allardyce stayed at Sunderland that summer…
