FC Red Bull Salzburg head coach Huub Stevens has quelled speculation linking him with the German Bundesliga champions.
The Red Bulls, currently in training and lining up for a friendly match against Swiss side Grasshoppers as their winter league break draws to a close, also have the biggest game in the club’s recent history coming up in February, as they compete in the Europa League knockout phase for the first time. It’s not Stevens’s first taste of such glory, however, as he won the UEFA Cup – the former incarnation of the Europa League – in 1997 as coach of German side Schalke 04.
But Stevens is adamant that he’ll be going nowhere, despite media stories suggesting that German champions VfL Wolfsburg, themselves in the Europa League and preparing to face the Red Bulls’ earlier Group G opponents Villareal, were ready to swoop for the 56-year-old Red Bulls boss to replace Armin Veh, whom the club sacked on Monday after he failed to replicate last year’s title-winning form, under former boss Felix Magath, in his eight months in charge of the Volkswagen-owned club.
'I have a contract that runs until 2011 that I am going to fulfil at the very least' – Huub Stevens
“It’s always nice to be the subject of speculation,” admitted Stevens, who took over at Red Bull Salzburg last July after fellow Dutchman Co Adriaanse left the club, but added: “There has been no contact between Wolfsburg and me.”
After the game against Grasshoppers at the Red Bull Arena in Wals tomorrow, which is free to attend, the Red Bulls return to domestic cup action away at Sturm Graz and a match in the Austrian Bundesliga against SV Ried before the big European night in Belgium against Standard Liège on February 18, something the Red Bull coach will want to focus on as he builds on the progress being made by the club.
“I have a contract that runs until 2011 that I am going to fulfil at the very least,” Stevens said. “I’m very happy here in Salzburg.”
For more Red Bull Salzburg soccer news, head to redbulls.com
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