FIRST TEAM
05/16/2018

Alex Rosen: "Hearing the anthem is not enough for us!"

Post season is pre season – that’s how Alexander Rosen sees it anyway. The sporting director will not be spending a long time celebrating the most successful season in the club’s history: His schedule is filled with squad planning, countless phone calls and business trips. Nevertheless, the 39-year-old, well into his fifth year at TSG Hoffenheim, making him the club’s longest serving director of football in the Bundesliga, took the time to speak to achtzehn99.de.

Alexander Rosen on squad planning:

"We’ll go back into the running with between 24 and 26 outfield players plus three goalkeepers. Following the transfers of Mark Uth and Serge Gnabry, we obviously have a demand for attacking players, and we’d like to add one or two names to the list alongside Leonardo Bittencourt and Ishak Belfodil. If no one else leaves the club, we see ourselves well equipped. We have 14 or 15 first team players who have finished fourth and then third in the Bundesliga. The lads have proven that they’re more than capable."  

Alexander Rosen on Champions League aims:

"When we enter a competition we want to go as far as possible – our team plays every game to win! It’s not about hearing the Champions League anthem, play along and then head off home. It’s about being ambitious and making progress on an international stage."

Alexander Rosen on the valuable lessons learnt this season: 

"We learnt some valuable lessons from the Champions League playoff against Liverpool and our Europa League campaign. That will play to our advantage – our experience will give us strength and composure. We have the assurance of having already been there."  

Alexander Rosen on additional revenues in the coming season:

"We want to grow in a strategic and sensible manner, and not get ahead of ourselves financially because of one Champions League qualification – which we would regret in two or three years. We will continue down the path of sensible economic expansion."  

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