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Todt denies being in contact with Hamburg

November 14, 2016

Former Germany player Jens Todt has denied having been in contact with Hamburg as the Bundesliga club continue to look for a sporting director. This comes after Hamburg failed to recruit Christian Hochstätter.

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Fußball 2. Bundesliga Karlsruher SC vs. VfB Stuttgart Jens Todt
Image: picture-alliance/Pressefoto Baumann

Jens Todt, who is currently the sporting director at second-division club Karlsruhe, told the DPA news agency on Monday that he had not spoken to the Bundesliga side about the vacancy.

"The situation is the same as it was last week. There are no contract talks with Hamburg and there has been no contact with me," said Todt, who has long been regarded as a candidate to replace Peter Knäbel, who was sacked at the end of last season. Todt is thought to be close to the Hamburg chairman, Dietmar Beiersdorfer. The two know each other from Beiersdorfer's days as the club's sporting director (2002-09) - when he was the head of Hamburg's youth program.

Sunday's news that Christian Hochstätter would not be taking the post at Hamburg came after days of speculation that he was about to sign. The deal fell apart though, after Hamburg refused to meet the demands of Hochstätter's current club, second-division outfit Bochum. Bochum were reportedly demanding three million euros ($3.2 million) while Hamburg were only prepared to offer a reported 500,000 euros.

Fußball 1. Bundesliga VfL Bochum - HSV Christian Hcohstätter
Hochstätter was too pricey for HamburgImage: picture-alliance/augenklick/firo Sportphoto

Over the past couple of weeks, Beiersdorfer has held talks with former Hamburg defender Nico-Jan Hoogma, who is currently the general manager at Dutch club Heracles Almelo, as well as former Schalke sporting director Horst Heldt. 

Hamburg, a founding member of the Bundesliga - as well as the only club never to have been relegated, currently sit bottom of the table with just two points from the first 10 games of the season.

pfd/sb (dpa, SID)