“I can’t understand it”: Bundesliga boss hits back at criticism from Bayern patron Uli Hoeneß
VfB Stuttgart's Alexander Wehrle says he cannot understand comments made by Bayern Munich club patriarch Uli Hoeneß.
Last weekend, Hoeneß criticised Stuttgart's summer transfer policy on the BR programme 'Sonntags-Stammtisch'. The 74-year-old argued that VfB were taking too little risk.
"They sell him their best players every year and think they can still reach the Champions League. That is simply wrong. When you have such huge potential as VfB do, including from industry in the greater Stuttgart area, you have to take a risk now and then," Hoeneß said.
Wehrle rejected those comments in an interview with the Frankfurter Rundschau and defended Stuttgart's approach. He called Hoeneß "a legendary manager in German football who has had a major influence on the Bundesliga", but said he was not properly informed in this case.
"I cannot understand these comments, however. Because we did not sell a single regular first-team player this transfer summer," Wehrle said. Instead, VfB had kept all their key players and strengthened the squad in specific areas. He said they had "invested significantly in the squad and, at the same time, fulfilled the wish of all VfB fans to finally bring another homegrown player into the team in Dennis Seimen, who could be our number one for years to come."
The Stuttgart chief executive did not know "how much more risk we should take. And secondly: we have never said, either internally or externally, that we must reach the Champions League."
Which regular first-team players left VfB Stuttgart in the summer?
Stuttgart let only one potential first-team regular leave in the summer: Chema Andres, who joined Brighton & Hove Albion for more than €20 million on deadline day. They invested €55 million in new players, with Dzenan Pejcinovic (from VfL Wolfsburg), Leo Sauer (from Feyenoord Rotterdam) and Bilal El Khannouss (permanently after a loan from Leicester City) among those joining the five-time German champions. They also signed Hoffenheim's Grischa Prömel on a free transfer.
VfB are still falling a little short of sporting expectations. After a poor start to the season, with only two wins from their first seven league games, Stuttgart currently sit eighth in the table.
Their form has improved. They have recently beaten Bayer 04 Leverkusen and SV Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga, and remain on track in the Champions League with seven points from four games.
