There had already been signs that St. Pauli’s search for a coach would lead them abroad, but now the Bundesliga newcomers appear to have found what they were looking for: Alexander Blessin in Belgium
The Stuttgart native only narrowly missed out on the championship and won the cup with Union Saint-Gilloise last season and now wants to leave the Belgians prematurely after a successful year – because he is drawn to the Millerntor.
Bornemann had recently held talks in various directions, including with Karlsruhe’s Christian Eichner, but did not want to be rushed in his search for a successor to Fabian Hürzeler. Eichner had an exit clause until June 15, but it was important to the sporting director to be able to go into depth in his talks. His promotion coach Hürzeler had signed for Brighton & Hove Albion in the Premier League last week. The transfer fee that the Kiez club will receive for the 31-year-old is said to be around six million euros.
Agreement between the clubs is still pending
One thing is clear: Hamburg must now reinvest part of the sum for their preferred candidate and are prepared to do so. The amount is still unclear. Blessin is still under contract in Belgium until 2025. St. Pauli will be the former striker’s first stop as head coach in Germany. At RB Leipzig, he worked successfully for eight years in the youth ranks, after his “apprenticeship” he first moved to KV Oostende and then to CFC Genoa. At Saint-Gilloise, he took the next step in his development, which made him interesting for the promoted team from the Hanseatic city. Although Blessin comes from the RB school, he also stands for possession soccer.
The deal has yet to be finalized due to the lack of agreement between the two clubs, but Bornemann appears to have come much closer to his goal: He wanted to make decisive progress in the last week of June so that personnel plans regarding the squad can also be advanced further before the official start of training on July 8. These were largely put on the back burner until the new coach was appointed
