Season

“We presented ourselves as a united front”

While speaking to the media, director of football Claus Costa discussed a busy transfer window, the high-profile deadline-day arrivals and the general challenges of squad planning.

Claus Costa can finally catch his breath. Over the past weeks and months, HSV’s director of football, together with his team and in close coordination with board member for sport Stefan Kuntz and the head coach Merlin Polzin, has worked tirelessly to plan, push through and complete a large number of moves. In total, the summer transfer window brought 12 arrivals and 18 departures. On deadline day itself, HSV secured two eye-catching deals in Sambi Lokonga and Fabio Vieira, only days after Luka Vuskovic had joined on loan.

On Thursday (2nd September), Claus Costa gave his thoughts on how the Arsenal duo were convinced to come to Hamburg, his reflections on a busy window and the key factors in squad planning. The 41-year-old spoke in detail about…

…on signing Lokonga and Vieira: We managed to win these players over with a lot of communication, patience and the right timing. At the start of the window, we said we would stay patient and leave spaces in our squad open until the end – and we stuck to that. We’re very happy it paid off. Both players were on our radar for a long time. With Sambi we expected for a while that an opportunity might open up. With Fabio, at first there was no chance, but in the last few days it became more and more realistic and, in the end, we were able to make it happen. We put everything we had into it. We all work together closely and always presented ourselves as a united front – so it was clear to the players what our plan was. That worked in both cases.

Director of football Claus Costa, board member for sport Stefan Kuntz and chief scout Sebastian Dirscherl worked closely together to oversee HSV’s transfer dealings.

…on the transfer window overall: It was a lot of fun and we presented ourselves as a united front, especially when it came to analysing our needs. We knew exactly what we wanted and where we needed to make changes. We always weighed up how strong our conviction was about each move. There’s always the temptation to hope for something better, and the challenge is balancing an immediate solution with a more spectacular signing later on. The key is to remain calm internally. Everyone would love to have the full squad together for day one of pre-season, but the players we brought in now were not have been available eight weeks ago. We made every transfer with full conviction, and looking back we’re very satisfied.

…on the process of squad planning: Every club has to find its own balance. Ideally, you’d have every arrival and departure sorted for the start of pre-season, but the reality is very different. Yesterday plenty of interesting things still happened at other clubs. That’s where you need nerves, patience and a lot of internal conviction. You have to know when to take a different path and when it’s worth waiting. The risk is always there that something doesn’t work out or an option falls through.

Costa remains in constant exchange with the coaching staff, including Loic Fave, Richard Krohn and head coach Merlin Polzin.

…on the team hierarchy: The group has already found its own balance. After a rebuild it’s normal that hierarchies and structures shift. The coaching staff have guided that process very well. We’ve got a good spirit and positive energy in the group. I’ve never seen a squad resist quality coming in. In the end it’s about competition – and everyone embraces that.

…on possible further moves: As long as some markets remain open and in theory there are opportunities, nothing can be ruled out. But honestly, at the moment there’s no movement.

…on the nerves during a transfer window: It’s mainly about teamwork. Still, you have to communicate a lot and always check whether something is realistic or if you’re chasing castles in the air. Staying in touch with players and agents is key to understanding their side of things. Once you’ve been in this business for a while, you develop a sense of what can become reality and what probably won’t.