DUSSELDORF – Bayern Munich have a 10 percent chance of persuading 72-year-old coach Jupp Heynckes to stay beyond the present season, club president Uli Hoeness said this week.
Heynckes, who led Bayern to the treble in 2013, was brought in again in October after the dismissal of Carlo Ancelotti, but said he would not continue beyond the present campaign.
Hoeness said Heynckes was the perfect choice for what are expected to be major squad changes at the end of the season.
“The veteran coach is also fit enough to continue. He doesn’t have to run 500 metres at a stretch now, but has to use his brain, and that’s proven to be totally intact,” Hoeness said.
The Bayern president is also not overly concerned about this season’s poor showing by Bundesliga clubs in Europe.
“We always talk about snapshots. We have to see the whole thing over a longer perspective. The Bundesliga is doing well, most clubs are in the black, he said.
Meanwhile, VfB Stuttgart on Monday appointed former Turkey international Tayfun Korkat as coach on a contract until the end of next season.
The 43-year-old Stuttgart-born coach succeeds Hannes Wolf, who left on Sunday after six defeats in the last seven Bundesliga games have left the promoted team facing the prospect of relegation.
Korkut was in charge at Bayer Leverkusen towards the end of last season.
He was Under-19 coach at VfB Stuttgart from 2011, until becoming assistant coach with the Turkish national team in 2012, and later head coach at Hanover and Kaiserslautern.
Stuttgart are now just three points off the bottom three in the Bundesliga, with 20 points from 20 games.
Their next game is Saturday's trip to Wolfsburg, who are on 23 points.