Sebastian Hoeneß Calls for Substance Ahead of Champions League

Sebastian Hoeneß has stopped hinting. The VfB Stuttgart head coach is spelling out, in plain language, what he expects from his club’s hierarchy as the clock ticks towards a Champions League season.

Out on the touchline at the training camp in Grassau, the backdrop was idyllic. His mood was not.

“A coach's aim must always be to keep the best players. Billy is without doubt one of our best players,” Hoeneß said when asked about the reported interest in Bilal El Khannouss.

Then he widened the target.

“We are playing a Champions League season. The point is that we also start this competition in a strong position. That is why I do have the wish that, instead of losing substance, we add substance.”

The message could hardly be clearer: stop selling, start arming.

Champions League looming, patience thinning

Hoeneß has a detailed picture in his head of what this squad should look like when the anthem plays on European nights. He does not want a project; he wants players ready to step straight into the fire.

“Ideally, potential that does not first have to be developed, but has already been unlocked,” he stressed. “I hope that we will still become active. There is not much time left and a large part of pre-season is already over. That is why the wish is great that we manage to get a strong squad to the start.”

Time. It keeps coming back to that. Pre-season almost gone, a Champions League campaign on the horizon, and a coach who feels the build-up is drifting.

Sporting director Fabian Wohlgemuth and chief executive Alexander Wehrle have not been idle. Leo Sauer, Tim van der Leij, goalkeeper Marius Funk and midfielder Grischa Prömel have all arrived on the Neckar. Useful pieces, important for depth.

Yet when you scan the forward line, the gap is obvious. The squad still lacks the kind of attacking heft that can decide tight European nights.

Stuttgart are pushing hard for Dzenan Pejcinovic to lead the line through the middle. He is the primary target for the central striking role. Negotiations with VfL Wolfsburg over the fee, though, are dragging and complicated. Every day that passes without a breakthrough adds to the tension.

Echoes of last summer’s storm

If this sounds familiar around Stuttgart, it is because it is. Hoeneß has been here before — and he has the scars to prove it.

Last year, when Nick Woltemade was sold to Newcastle United for a record fee of up to €90 million, the coach’s anger over the squad’s composition boiled over. Money in the bank did not translate into calm on the touchline.

Before the home game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, he did not even try to sugarcoat it.

“The fact is that it is a bitter loss for us,” he said. “Last summer we set out a few things that we wanted to implement. And I have to say very clearly that, even before Nick was transferred now, we had not yet completely managed to implement these things. The squad is not where it was intended to be.”

Even a record windfall could not soothe him.

“Of course there is a financial situation. But the sporting responsibility lies with the coach.”

That line still hangs in the air. Hoeneß knows that, when the whistle blows, nobody will ask about balance sheets. They will ask about results.

Turbulent search, late solutions

The scramble to replace Woltemade turned messy. Stuttgart thought they had their man in Hyeon-Gyu Oh from KRC Genk. Talks dragged on for hours. Then the medical raised concerns at VfB, and the two clubs remained far apart on the fee. The deal collapsed at the last moment.

The clock was ticking then, too.

Only shortly before the end of the 2025 summer transfer window did Stuttgart finally act decisively. Bilal El Khannouss arrived on loan from Leicester City, a creative spark to help fill the void. The day before, winger Badredine Bouanani had come in from OGC Nice for around €15 million.

Those late moves steadied the mood, but they did not erase the feeling that Stuttgart had been reacting, not shaping their own destiny.

Now the pattern threatens to repeat.

Hoeneß is sounding the alarm earlier, louder, and with a Champions League campaign now part of the equation. The squad has been strengthened, but not yet transformed. The coach wants more than respectable participation in Europe; he wants a team that can stand its ground from the first group game.

The question hanging over the Neckar is simple: will Stuttgart match their coach’s ambition before the window slams shut, or will another season start with Hoeneß looking at a squad he believes is one step short?