It has now been six years since Hamburger SV last tasted Bundesliga football. The former six-time German champions and one-time former European champions seem to be embroiled in an eternal battle against promotion back to Germany’s top flight.
In the past five seasons, only twice have HSV finished in the promotion play-off, coming in the previous two campaigns as their return to the Bundesliga began edging nearer. Regardless, a fourth-place finish seems to be almost certain this season, with the club handing over what appeared to be an almost guaranteed promotion play-off spot to Fortuna Düsseldorf.
Despite releasing Tim Walter and replacing him with Steffen Baumgart, Hamburg have been unable to turn their miserable recent performances around, and now director of sport Jonas Boldt is facing the firing line. With the supervisory board questioning Boldt’s ability in recent weeks, Ralf Rangnick was approached with the opportunity of becoming the club’s new director of sport.
However, Rangnick now looks set to be appointed as the new head coach of Bayern Munich, leaving the door open for other alternatives. As reported by Bild, it is understood that Sebastian Kehl is on Hamburg’s shortlist.
While Kehl may be in a stable position at Borussia Dortmund, the promotion of Lars Ricken to be the successor to Hans-Joachim Watzke would have undoubtedly frustrated the former BvB captain. As well as this, with influence over transfers and squad planning soon to be handed over to the returning Sven Mislintat, Kehl’s power at the Westfalenstadion appears to be diminishing.
Therefore, while Kehl is yet to be contacted by HSV, he could be attracted by the project at hand. Nevertheless, Die Rothosen have a number of other candidates on their shortlist, and whether they could lure Kehl away from Dortmund is unknown.
GGFN | Will Shopland
