Reports: Köln prepare to install Bielefeld boss Samir Arabi as new sporting director
Some reports surfacing in Germany's main sporting tabloid late last week are now being confirmed by the Kölner Express.
According to these sources, the Bundesliga's cathedral city club are set to install Arminia Bielefeld chief personnel exec as their new sporting director.
Die Geißböcke of 1. FC Köln have ben operating with an acting sporting director since Horst Heldt was sacked shortly after the team avoided relegation in last season's playoffs. The acting leadership of club functionary Jörg Jakobs never had a permanent feel to it. Chiefly an academic lecture, Jakobs earned criticism from other Bundesliga executives for his unbusinesslike handling of certain transfer dealings.
According to these sources, the Bundesliga's cathedral city club are set to install Arminia Bielefeld chief personnel exec as their new sporting director.
It now appears as if a concrete succession plan is in place. The highly regarded managing director Samir Arabi of DSC Arminia Bielefeld had been linked with the job for some time. There were also reports last spring linking Arabi with the vacant Eintracht Frankfurt chief managerial position ultimately filled by Markus Krösche.
Germany's Sport Bild reported that Arabi, who has led the Bielefeld front office since 2011, was a strong candidate to take over at Köln. Local newspaper the Kölner express now confirms this report and claims that a concrete succession plan is in place.
The sources claim that Arabi has a €500,000 exit clause in his contract. The DSC operates on the assumption that Köln will pay this fee. The East Westphalians are said to already be looking for a replacement.
Jakobs is scheduled to resume his professorial duties as a lecturer at the local university when the German winter semester begins in October. Arabi should then be revealed as the new top manager of the Effzeh shortly thereafter.