BERLIN/Nigeria: Hertha Berlin president Kay Bernstein has said the club was aware that former sporting director Fredi Bobic “was in principle open” to a possible offer from the German football federation (DFB) to take the job as national team director.
“We had several signals that Fredi was in principle open to this topic,” he said in an interview published on the club’s website on Thursday.
The position at the DFB became available after Oliver Bierhoff stepped down in the wake of a group stage exit at the World Cup in Qatar last December.
However, Bernstein didn’t say what exact influence the events had on Bobic’s departure from Hertha after just over one and a half years.
“After the unsuccessful start to the new year and also considering the economic situation and the contract situation, we decided to make this change now,” he explained.
The president said that Hertha was presented with an ambitious growth plan when Bobic arrived but after a “closer inspection, a healthy basis was already missing in the summer of 2021” for its implementation.
“The board was given the impression that, especially with a view to the transfer balance and the overall sporting development, the confidence in a successful work had fade away,” Bernstein said.
Bobic was dismissed on January 28 and, back then, Bernstein said the speculations over the job at DFB had no influence in the club’s decision.
