Kicker report: Frankfurt eye Bielefeld managing director Arabi as Bobic's replacement
In a Sunday article for German footballing magazine Kicker, respected German football journalist Michael Richter lists three potential candidates Eintracht Frankfurt have lined up to potentially replace departing sporting CEO Fredi Bobic.
Arminia Bielefeld's Samir Arabi, easily available on an open-ended contract, seems to be the club's top choice.
Arminia Bielefeld's Samir Arabi, easily available on an open-ended contract, seems to be the club's top choice.
Leipzig's Markus Krösche and Hamburg's Jonas Boldt are cited as candidates. The bulk of the attention, however, seems to be gravitating towards Bielefeld's Samir Arabi. The 42-year-old executive has been making important decisions at the East Westphalian club since 2014, overseeing the quintessential German "yo-yo" teams most recent ascent from the third division to the first.
Promoted to Managing Director of Sport in 2016, Arabi also brought in a very competent commercial director to help substantially reduce the club's debt. His most recent administrative move, sacking Uwe Neuhaus in order to bring in preferred head-coach Frank Kramer, struck many as cold and clinical. The move nevertheless appeared to have a strong rationale (namely, more playing time for higher profile transfers) behind it.
Richter cites no other names in his piece. With no new information emerging over the weekend, it increasingly looks as if the SportBild report linking Bastian Schweinsteiger with the position was, as expected, not well substantiated.
