"The only thing you can do is focus on the things that you can influence and be positive," Kevin Diks said as Borussia Mönchengladbach try to steady a miserable start. The defender has worn the armband in three of their opening five Bundesliga fixtures, and the club have lost all five. With injured captain Tim Kleindienst out, Diks is leaning on experience rather than noise.
Diks's leadership message
Diks said he feels he has "developed into becoming a leader" and added that leadership is not limited to the loudest voice in the room. He also pointed to the past five or six years as the period when that growth really took shape.
His own season tells the same story about trust. Diks has played every Bundesliga match so far, logging 450 minutes across five appearances, and his average rating sits at 6.02. That is not the profile of a player just passing through a crisis at the club.
Indonesia and the armband in Germany
The other part of his leadership case comes from Indonesia. Diks first captained them at the start of their FIFA ASEAN Cup campaign last month, then helped deliver a historic tournament victory after scoring in the decisive final shootout against Thailand in Jakarta.
He called the run "a big honour" and said it was "a rollercoaster of emotions". He also said: "There was just no chance I was going to miss that penalty. I knew I would score and we would win it."
The contrast with Gladbach is stark. Five straight league defeats, 18th place and 0 points after five matches leave little room for speeches. Diks is not pretending otherwise, but he is trying to make the only argument available to him, stay calm, keep influencing what he can, and wait for the first Bundesliga win to arrive.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
