Stuttgart hire Tobias Werner for managerial position

The promotion of sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth to the club's board last month leaves Bundesliga Champions' League representatives VfB Stuttgart without an active sporting director for the time being. On Wednesday, the Swabians confirmed the hiring of former player Tobias Werner as potential future solution. The 38-year-old has been assigned the newly created title of "transition manager" in the club's front office. 

Werner played for Stuttgart near the end of his active playing career, making a handful of appearances for the VfB squad that achieved promotion back to the top flight during the 2016/17 season. Werner's post-retirement administrative career included stints as a sporting director with FC Carl Zeiss Jena and SSV Jahn Regensburg. The bulk of his playing days were spent in Augsburg. 

"We want to become more efficient in sporting and economic terms," Wohlgemuth noted in a club statement, "As many players as possible from our own youth academies should be given a career perspective in professional soccer. Ideally, of course, at VfB Stuttgart. Tobias Werner has gained important experience as a player and as a administrator, which he will now contribute in this role."

Whether or not Werner will ultimately be elevated to the sporting director role remains to be seen. For the time being, Werner himself emphasized that he considered his primary task to be helping the academy talents develop properly. The new hiring noted that he hoped to help the club license players within the system.