Italian media: Juventus intends to hire Southampton technical director Schippers as sporting director

October 24th According to "Bild" citing Italian media reports, Juventus is considering hiring Southampton technical director Johannes Schposs as sporting director.

The report stated that the 43-year-old Schposs has gained rich experience as a sports manager in the past few years, and now he has received a call from Italy. According to Italian media reports, Juventus is interested in hiring him as sporting director.

Juventus is looking for a new strong figure and is currently examining multiple candidates. They will announce the new candidate for this position by early November at the latest. The veteran Serie A club is in crisis, having been without a win since September 13, and recently suffered its first defeat of the season (0-2 away to Como) after five consecutive draws during this period.

The names of Marco Ottolini (45 years old/Genoa) and Domenico Teti (49 years old/Wolves) have also been mentioned recently. Juventus are looking for a candidate with extensive international connections and experience.

The report also pointed out that this job seems to be tailor-made for Schposs. The Heidelberg-born football manager had a long spell at Hoffenheim since 2007 before Rangnick recruited him to RB Leipzig as chief scout in 2015.

Spers' subsequent career path included spells at Hamburg, Vitesse, Melbourne and Genoa. Later, he also served as the global sports director of 777 Football Group, which once held shares in clubs such as Hertha Berlin.

He has been serving as technical director at Championship club Southampton since February this year, and his current contract will run until the summer of 2028. However, his appointment is through London-based sports investment company SportRepublic, which owns 80% of the Southampton club and has a majority stake in newly promoted Turkish Premier League side Goztaby Izmir and French third-division club Valenciennes.