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Minggu, 02 Januari 2011

Hoffenheim: Luis Gustavo joins Bayern, but coach Rangnick resigns

German Bundesliga side 1899 Hoffenheim not only finally sold talented midfielder Luis Gustavo to Bayern Munich, but also lost their coach Ralf Rangnick in the process. Rangnick had vehemently opposed the transfer over the last few weeks, but the club owner Dietmar Hopp and manager Ernst Tanner went ahead to hold transfer talks with the Bavarians and finally sanctioned the transfer, which was unacceptable to the coach.

A few weeks ago Rangnick had said, "The departure of Luiz Gustavo during the winter break is out of the question in my eyes."

But thereafter club owner Dietmar Hopp had said that Hoffenheim wouldn't be able to retain a player like Luis Gustavo if a club like Bayern Muncih was interested. For Rangnick that was not acceptable and he had written a strong worded mail to the club management, which didn't go down too well with them. In the end Rangnick resigned, but as per Hopp he would have been fired otherwise if he hadn't resigned.

Rangnick's assistant Marco Pezzaiuoli has been moved up into the Hoffenheim hot seat. 42 year old Pezzaiuoli has been given a contract until summer 2014 with the task of further developing the club and its players.

Former Hanover 96 and FC Schalke 04 coach Rangnick had surprisingly joined Hoffenheim in June 2006 as the club was only an ambitious third division club then, but in two years he took them into the Bundesliga and in December 2008 the small town club surprisingly were winter champions of the league.

And Luis Gustavo has been a vital part of the squad since joining them from second division Brazilian club Corinthians-Maceio in 2007. Last season Luis Gustavo was more known for his red card send offs, but this season he has been fundamental to Hoffenheim's game in the centre of the park. This was the reason why Bayern Munich wanted to sign him as a long-term replacement for Mark van Bommel. Now they have signed him until 2015 for a fee of 15 Million Euros.

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