Is Bruno Labbadia really a top candidate as the new coach of VfB Stuttgart? Who inherits “Diamond Eye” Sven Mislintat? After the separation from the sports director, things remain extremely exciting for the Swabian Bundesliga club, which is threatened with relegation.
Even after the departure of sports director Sven Mislintat, also known as the “diamond eye” because of his outstanding eye for talent, there are still a number of question marks given the unclear personal details and the rumors of Bruno Labbadia returning to VfB Stuttgart. The executives around CEO Alexander Wehrle are facing further negotiations and want to clarify the open questions before the start of training on December 12th. According to a report by the “t-online” portal, Labbadia is to return to the Bundesliga and take over the Swabians, who are threatened with relegation, as the successors to Pellegrino Matarazzo, who was released in October, and interim coach Michael Wimmer. VfB did not comment on the name.
The 56-year-old Labbadia, who has already coached Hertha BSC, VfL Wolfsburg and Hamburger SV, among others, would take over VfB a second time. From December 2010 to the end of August 2013 he was responsible for the Swabians.
Actually, the table-16. of the Bundesliga, however, the successor to Mislintat must first be settled. The new sports director could then already influence the search for a coach. Whether there will be an external or internal solution is open. Former world champion Sami Khedira, currently working as a TV expert for the World Cup in Qatar on ARD, has been a close advisor to CEO Wehrle since September. The former midfielder should not (yet) be considered as sports director. Former VfB captain Christian Gentner is scheduled to head the licensed players department from January 1, 2023. Markus Rüdt, who is responsible for sports organization, was part of Mislintat’s team.
Mislintat, meanwhile, could find a new job in the English Premier League, according to media reports. As reported by Sky Sport, he is a candidate for Liverpool FC with coach Jürgen Klopp. In Stuttgart, the coaching decision will now be made without him. Mislintat was an advocate for caretaker coach Wimmer.
The former national goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand does not want to give the VfB managers around the CEO Alexander Wehrle any advice and, in his own words, does not know the internals either. But he could still imagine Wimmer as a coach in Stuttgart. “I think he did a good job,” said the 43-year-old of the German Press Agency. In the six Bundesliga games, the interim coach has achieved a “reasonable number of points” for the situation with three home wins and a total of nine points.
Even before Mislintat announced after a 5-0 loss at Borussia Dortmund at the end of October that Wimmer would continue until the winter break, the traditional Swabian club had contacted potential new coaches: the clubless Dane Jess Thorup and Alfred Schreuder from Ajax Amsterdam.
