Frankfurt signs goalkeeper Noah Atubolu from Freiburg as the Bundesliga season starts

FRANKFURT, Germany — Eintracht Frankfurt signed the up-and-coming German goalkeeper Noah Atubolu from Freiburg on the day the new Bundesliga season gets underway.

Atubolu was key to Freiburg's run to the Europa League final last season — where it lost to Aston Villa — and had been linked with a potential move to Villa in the summer as he sought to leave.

Instead, he heads to Frankfurt on what is initially a season-long loan with “a purchase option, which will automatically trigger an obligation to buy under certain conditions,” Frankfurt said.

Atubolu had a year left on his old Freiburg contract and has signed an extension to make the loan-to-buy deal possible, Freiburg said. That prevents him moving elsewhere as a free agent next summer instead of joining Frankfurt permanently.

It ends a long-running transfer saga which included Freiburg signing Germany Under-21 goalkeeper Mio Backhaus from Werder Bremen as its replacement for Atubolu, who was left out of the squad for Freiburg's opening three games of the season in the German Cup and Conference League qualifiers.

“We have very complicated weeks and months behind us,” Freiburg sporting director Jochen Saier said in a statement.

The Bundesliga gets underway with defending champion Bayern Munich playing Stuttgart on Friday. Frankfurt visits Union Berlin on Saturday before Freiburg takes on Backhaus' former club Bremen on Sunday.