Sebastian Hoeneß on the conditions for him to stay at VfB Stuttgart: “it would be important to keep our best players. In order to then continuously play for international places.”

Speaking to Sport Bild, VfB Stuttgart head coach Sebastian Hoeneß has revealed the conditions for him to stay at the club.

Hoeneß’s performance at Stuttgart over the past two years has resulted in increased attention and interest in his future. It has previously been reported that the former Bayern Munich II and Hoffenheim head coach is a candidate to replace Xabi Alonso at Bayer Leverkusen. 

On what it would take for him to stay at the MHP Arena, Hoeneß said: 

“In the future, it would be important to keep our own substance – in other words, the best players – and build on that. In order to then continuously play for international places.”

The one issue here is that several of Stuttgart’s players have release clauses in their contract which could see them leave the club next summer. Enzo Millot, Jamie Leweling and Chris Führich all have these clauses, while goalkeeper Alexander Nübel can be recalled to parent club Bayern Munich in the summer. On top of this, Serhou Guirassy, Waldemar Anton and Hiroki Ito all left the club in the summer due to release clauses. 

Hoeneß then made it clear that he still wants to stay at VfB beyond the summer:

“Nothing has changed in that regard, But of course it is also important to me that it is clear that the conditions are created so that VfB can continue to develop,”

Stuttgart has already begun the preparation in case Hoeneß does leave. Germany assistant head coach Sandro Wagner as well as former Red Bull Salzburg head coach Matthias Jaissle have been linked to the club in recent weeks. 

GGFN | Jack Meenan