Hannover 96‘s hopes of bringing back Jannes Horn on loan for a second season appear to have been ended by his parent club 1. FC Köln.
There had been talks about extending his loan, with Hannover unable to afford purchasing him out right, however Köln managing director of sport, Horst Heldt, has been quoted by Kicker as saying that the left-back is part of the club’s plans for the upcoming season.
“Jannes played a very good season in Hanover. We plan with him,” said he said, confirming a new loan “was no longer an issue” and that both Hannover and Horn had been informed.
It leaves Hannover coach Kenan Kocak and sporting director Gerhard Zuber with a huge task ahead with numerous gaps in the squad less than a week before the start of pre-season training, despite making three new signings last week.
Ten players, including Horn, left the club at the end of the season. Their other recognised left-backs, Miiko Albornoz and Matthias Ostrzolek, also departed.
Further departures, wanted and unwanted, set to follow. The club are likely to lose Waldemar Anton and Linton Maina to the Bundesliga, whilst senior players including Ron-Robert Zieler, Marvin Bakalorz and Edgar Prib have reportedly been told that Kocak is planning without them despite still being under contracts. Whether any want to leave is debatable.
The radical upheaval wanted by Kocak is intended to craft the team more to his liking ahead of a push for promotion next season, with much of the groundwork laid by Mirko Slomka and Zuber’s predecessor Jan Schlaudraff this time last year – such as bringing back Zieler – being discredited.
Despite the arrivals of Franck Evina, Valmir Sulejmani and Mike Frantz last week, Kocak still has a number of vacancies in his squad – most pressingly at full-back, with no right-sided defenders on the books either – ahead of the team’s return to training later this week.
Missing out on Horn is a big blow to Kocak’s plans ahead of what will be a rocky couple of months at the HDI-Arena.
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