Transfers possible in winter
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In recent years, VfB Stuttgart has always had to rely on a transfer surplus. This looks different after Porsche joined as an investor, which is why CEO Alexander Wehrle announced an adjustment to the strategy. In order to continually build something, a team has to be held together, said the 49-year-old in an interview with “Kicker”.
Various factors are important for this. “Do you have enough equity in your medium-term financial planning? Do you have enough liquidity and can you afford not to achieve a positive result for a year or two? I like to go into a season with the minimum goal of a black zero, but on the other hand, we now have a very stable situation thanks to the 41 million euros in fresh equity from Porsche. Without equity, it is difficult to obtain debt capital from banks. Now we can perhaps allow ourselves a little more risk,” said Wehrle.
The VfB boss therefore did not rule out a change next January. “If we had known how things were going with the injuries, we might have been able to add someone else (in the summer, editor). But we still have a winter transfer period.” The club has complained about many losses this season, especially in defense and currently in offense.
VfB Stuttgart’s Wehrle: “A bit disappointed” with Anton
So far this season, the Swabians have spent 75.5 million euros on new signings, 67.12 million euros have been earned through sales of top performers such as Hiroki Ito (25), Waldemar Anton (27) and Serhou Guirassy (28). One thing in particular still hurts Wehrle a lot. “Some transfers, like that of Hiroki Ito to FC Bayern, are announced long in advance. Wataru Endo to Liverpool FC and Waldemar Anton, on the other hand, were emotional transfers for me too. Wataru wanted to fulfill his lifelong dream of playing in the Premier League with ten months remaining on his contract. I was a bit disappointed with Waldi. He developed into a national player for us, was captain and had signaled that he was looking forward to the Champions League with us. We still had to respect it and wished him all the best. He worked hard for us for years, so we shouldn’t demonize him, especially since he had an exit clause.”
Ito and Guirassy also moved via an exit clause, which is why VfB’s goal is to avoid these options. Apparently with success: “We were recently able to prevent exit clauses when extending contracts with national players,” confirmed Wehrle, without naming names. Nevertheless, there is a risk of top players leaving again next summer. There is always speculation about Angelo Stiller (23), Jamie Leweling (23), Enzo Millot (22) and Chris Führich (26), who together have a market value of 105 million euros and therefore make up around a third of Stuttgart’s squad value (313.73 million euros).
Wehrle still remains calm. “If it’s true that they have release clauses, they could have left last summer (laughs). It’s always about supply and demand, every club has this situation, including Bayern with Musiala. There are players who are developing, clubs who are poaching players and clubs who want to keep players. This is part of our business model. In the end, one thing is crucial: you have to give the players a clear perspective. If a professional overperforms, three Champions League clubs want him and we don’t qualify internationally, we have no arguments. Then you have to find a solution. This also means we are now in a position to invest properly, as happened with Deniz Undav and Ermedin Demirovic – two VfB record transfers within one transfer period.”