Leeds not alone in their pursuit of Hoffenheim’s Anton Stach | OneFootball

Kicker – in a report from Hoffenheim training camp – reports that versatile German midfielder Anton Stach is “in great demand internationally“. Kicker specifically references rumors linking the Bundesliga professional with a move to Leeds United, going so far as to lead their online piece with the headline “Stach isn’t merely coveted by Leeds“.

It seems increasingly likely that Stach will depart his current Bundesliga club this summer. TSG sporting director Andreas Schicker must immediately begin reducing his oversized squad. Stach remains the only player he can fetch a double-digit million sum for.

Kicker doesn’t specifically reference which other clubs may be interested in the 26-year-old, but it does make perfect sense that plenty of managers would love to bring the twice-capped international aboard. Stach has been linked with an inter-Bundesliga move to Eintracht Frankfurt.

Given the current state of his German club, Stach himself will likely fancy a move. Hoffenheim narrowly escaped relegation and, thanks to the managerial issues brought about by Schicker and his team, aren’t respected at all in the established German footballing media.

Schicker is again quoted in the Kicker piece as saying that he prioritizes getting plenty of players off his payroll this summer. Hoffenheim’s current 39-man-squad counts as something an embarrassment in a country obsessed with efficiency in its footballing operations.

Virtually all transfer round-ups and scorecards in the German press deduct points from Bundesliga clubs that do not manage to keep a squad of around 32 professionals heading into a season. Schicker and Hoffenheim are already setting themselves up for failing marks in Kicker and other publications.

“It was clear from the start that these are things that don’t happen in June, but now things are slowly starting to move,” Schicker is quoted as saying in the Kicker piece. “[Our squad is comprised of] one-third TSG faces, one-third academy, and one-third top talent. We need to establish a clear hierarchy within the team.“

GGFN | Peter Weis