The superstitious will make the necessary conjurations, but precedents are made to be debunked. The former goalkeeper Austria Vienna he will be the second German in Lecce’s first team after a midfielder who, at least for what he achieved in Italy, has earned the definition of football’s “dump”. In November 1993, after the Bruno promotion BolchiLecce discovered André Gumprecht, coming from the youth team Bayer Leverkusen. The objective was to give dynamism to the midline of a team already in difficulty in the first 11 games of Sonetti’s management, replaced by Marchesi.
Gumprecht, born in Jena in the former East Germany on 26 November 1974, made his debut in the finale of Turin-Lecce 3-0 of November 28, 1993, replacing Gerson with the game now compromised. To see him back on the pitch we will have to wait until February 6th, when Lecce, very last, were almost relegated with only 7 points and -10 from the safety zone in the last championship played in Serie A with two points for a victory. Gumprecht started the Lecce-Piacenza 1-1 match but only played one half. In the 46th minute Ayew came on in his place.
In the championship finale, useful only for the annals, the German found more space: 5 appearances in the last 7 games (all losses) from Lecce 1993/1994 with a final total of 288 minutes in 7 caps. The following year, in Serie B with Spinosi on the bench, Gumprecht played just one half in Salernitana-Lecce 1-1 and 33′ in extra time in Lecce-Cremonese 2-2 in the Italian Cup. In the autumn of 1994, Gumprecht left Italy and moved to Preußen Köln in the German lower leagues.
On the other side of the world, however, Gumprecht is a legend. In 2002, after various German teams, he moved to the Australian A-League and won the championship with Perth Glory winning the best player of the season award. After a period in Singapore he returns to Australia and wears the shirts of Central Coast Mariners, Sydney Olympic, Bankstown City and Bonnyrigg White Eagles finishing at Lake Macquarie.
In addition to the positive results, Gumprecht stood out in Australia for a “joke” that was not in good taste. In February 2008 he was put under investigation by the Australian Federation for having disguised himself as Adolf Hitler during a party held for the conclusion of the championship (which ended with the defeat of his team, at the time Central Coast in the final by 1- 0 against the Newcastle Jets), in uniform and with the characteristic Fuhrer moustache. For Früchtl we definitely hope for a different story.
