2nd league
Karlsruhe (AP) – Sports director Oliver Kreuzer from the second division soccer club Karlsruher SC still believes in the whereabouts of top scorer Philipp Hofmann, but is also preparing for his possible departure.
“I still have hope that he will stay, but Philipp knows that we also have to look for alternatives,” said the 56-year-old of the German Press Agency. “If there is still no solution with him after the first quarter, it could be that we have to plan without him. Of course, the prerequisite for this would be that by then we would have someone who we are completely enthusiastic about and who has all the general conditions fit.”
Hofmann’s contract with KSC ends in the summer. For months, the people of Baden have wanted to persuade the 28-year-old, who is flirting with a move to the first division, to extend his contract. “We went to the limit financially with the offer we made to him,” said Kreuzer. “He has a familiar environment here, great appreciation and an extremely high level of acceptance throughout the club. He can remain one of our defining faces. And we also want to set up the club in such a way that in the medium and long term we sometimes have higher goals than staying up in the league can spend.”
The contracts of Daniel Gordon (37) and Marc Lorenz (33) are also running out. “We’ll sit down with him in four to six weeks and see if he’ll hang on for another year,” Kreuzer said of defender Gordon. “One way or the other, we definitely want to keep him at the club.” The situation is open for midfielder Lorenz.