VfB Stuttgart’s decision to sack Pellegrino Matarazzo on Monday without having a successor to instantly install has opened up speculation as to who the new Swabian trainer will be.
There are a host of out-of-work trainers with recent Bundesliga experience on the market and they will all be in the running. Or could the VfB bosses take a leaf out of Bayer Leverkusen’s book and go for an untried face like they did with Matarazzo?
Here we look at six contenders and then throw in a fantasy, wildcard option just for good measure.
Domenico Tedesco
It is easy to forget that Domenico Tedesco was named Bundesliga coach of the Year in 2018 when he led Schalke to runner-up spot. A lot has happened since then including being sacked by both the Königsblauen and RB Leipzig, but the young manager, often mentioned in the same conversation as Julian Nagelsmann not so long ago, has a lot to offer.
He can consider himself unlucky to have lost his previous two Bundesliga posts (he won the DFB Pokal at Leipzig), he was highly popular while at Spartak Moscow.
Adi Hütter
Adi Hütter’s mistake was getting involved in the trainer merry-go-round when Borussia Dortmund announced Marco Rose as their new coach. He left Eintracht Frankfurt to join Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Oliver Glasner left Wolfsburg to replace him. A year later Rose had been fired from BVB, Glasner had won the Europa League with Frankfurt and Hütter was also at the job centre having not had the best of seasons with the Foals.
A clean slate somewhere is needed for the Austrian trainer and VfB Stuttgart could provide just that.
Gerardo Seoane
Freshly fired from his job at Bayer Leverkusen after a poor start to the season, but people at the Bay Arena have short memories. It was only last season that the Swiss coach was being lauded from all angles for steering the Werkself into the Champions League playing a great brand of football and being tipped for a title challenge this season.
Previously he had led Young Boys to three consecutive Swiss Super League titles, and you don’t just become a bad coach overnight. It would be a different challenge at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, but one he might jump at to get back into employment.
Sebastian Hoeneß
Hoeneß struggled to replicate the success he’d had with Bayern II in Sinsheim and failure to achieve Champions League football following an Rückrunde meltdown cost him his job. Still, he’s a talented young coach who ticks a lot of the right boxes that come with the Stuttgart position.
Peter Bosz
It’s only been two days since Dutchman Bosz was sacked by Lyon with the French club ten games into the Ligue 1 season. A poor run of form and internal disputes with players was to blame. He endured a similar fate to Gerardo Seoane whilst at Leverkusen, achieving Champions League qualification one year and being sacked the next.
Can we imagine Boszball working at VfB Stuttgart? We’d enjoy seeing him give it a try!
Zsolt Löw
According to Sky Germany 43-year-old Hungarian Zsolt Löw is being considered for the vacant post. Low was previously Thomas Tuchel’s assistant coach at Chelsea and was part of the team that won the Champions League.
He has Bundesliga playing experience with Energie Cottbus, Hansa Rostock, Hoffenheim, and Mainz between 2022 and 2011.
(An absolute wild card, but maybe just…) Jogi Löw?
The World Cup winning Bundestrainer started his top-level coaching career in Swabia with VfB Stuttgart and the circle could be squared with a return to his roots. He has insisted on numerous occasions that he is not going to return to club management, but in world somewhere, somebody must be wishing this to be the solution to Stuttgart’s current vacancy.
