Stuttgart coach Huub Stevens has expressed a mixture of regret and understanding at his club's decision to sell 19-year-old Joshua Kimmich to Bayern Munich next summer.
Kimmich will move to Bayern for a reported €7 million, even though he has yet to make his debut for Stuttgart in the Bundesliga. The defensive midfielder is on a season-long loan at Red Bull Leipzig in the second division and will join Bayern on a five-year deal at the end of the season.
Stevens said the move was inevitable. "You've got to see all the things that go on around the player - he wants the best, his agent wants the best and his parents want the best and so, when Bayern Munich come along, it becomes very difficult to say no," Stevens told Sport1 television.
"But of course, the managerial staff are sad about it. I wold have loved to work with him. But €7 million, my word - that's a lot of money for a player who has yet to appear in the Bundesliga."
Stevens' contract with Stuttgart expires in the summer, but he has a chance of earning an extension by keeping them in the Bundesliga again this season. Last year he arrived in similar circumstances with the club in danger, but his short-term contract was not renewed in the summer as he opted to take time out from the game.
"I think we'll decide in May," said the 61-year-old. "I've first got to see how things work and then how I feel. You don't get any younger, it's got to be said. We will know then whether I have the energy to carry on feeling about football the way I am now."
Source: FIFA.com