Völler would like Wirtz to stay at Leverkusen for another year
Rudi Voeller, Sports Director of the German national soccer team, speaks at a press conference on the allocation of rights, for the 2026 Men's World Cup, at Telekom's representative office in Berlin. Telekom has acquired an extensive TV rights package from FIFA, the world soccer association. Christoph Soeder/dpa
German Football Federation (DFB) sporting director Rudi Völler hopes Florian Wirtz stays at Bayer Leverkusen for another year and doesn't expect a quick decision on his future.
"My favourite solution is for him to stay there for another year and then move on. My Leverkusen team could live with that, but I don't know if other clubs could either," Völler at an event of telecommunications company Telekom in Berlin.
Advertisement
Völler played in Leverkusen between 1994 and 1996. He was their coach on an interim basis twice and also had different positions at the club management.
Wirtz has a contract with Leverkusen until June 2027, but Bayern Munich and Liverpool are reportedly working to sign him.
According to reports, the Bayer pharmaceutical company, which owns Levekusen has, given the green light for the sale of Wirtz, but only for €150 million ($170.2 million).
The high sum reportedly forced Manchester City out of the race for the 22-year-old.
Völler didn't want to comment on the status of the negotiations.
"Many people know that I still have a small office in Leverkusen, but they don't tell me everything anymore," he joked.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
18 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Auto companies 'in full panic' over rare-earths bottleneck
By Christina Amann, Nick Carey and Kalea Hall BERLIN/LONDON/DETROIT (Reuters) -Frank Eckard, CEO of a German magnet maker, has been fielding a flood of calls in recent weeks. Exasperated automakers and parts suppliers have been desperate to find alternative sources of magnets, which are in short supply due to Chinese export curbs. Some told Eckard their factories could be idled by mid-July without backup magnet supplies. "The whole car industry is in full panic," said Eckard, CEO of Magnosphere, based in Troisdorf, Germany. "They are willing to pay any price." Car executives have once again been driven into their war rooms, concerned that China's tight export controls on rare-earth magnets – crucially needed to make cars – could cripple production. U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed to let rare earths minerals and magnets flow to the United States. A U.S. trade team is scheduled to meet Chinese counterparts for talks in London on Monday. The industry worries that the rare-earths situation could cascade into the third massive supply chain shock in five years. A semiconductor shortage wiped away millions of cars from automakers' production plans, from roughly 2021 to 2023. Before that, the coronavirus pandemic in 2020 shut factories for weeks. Those crises prompted the industry to fortify supply chain strategies. Executives have prioritized backup supplies for key components and reexamined the use of just-in-time inventories, which save money but can leave them without stockpiles when a crisis unfurls. Judging from Eckard's inbound calls, though, "nobody has learned from the past," he said. This time, as the rare-earths bottleneck tightens, the industry has few good options, given the extent to which China dominates the market. The fate of automakers' assembly lines has been left to a small team of Chinese bureaucrats as it reviews hundreds of applications for export permits. Several European auto-supplier plants have already shut down, with more outages coming, said the region's auto supplier association, CLEPA. "Sooner or later, this will confront everyone," said CLEPA Secretary-General Benjamin Krieger. Cars today use rare-earths-based motors in dozens of components – side mirrors, stereo speakers, oil pumps, windshield wipers, and sensors for fuel leakage and braking sensors. China controls up to 70% of global rare-earths mining, 85% of refining capacity and about 90% of rare-earths metal alloy and magnet production, consultancy AlixPartners said. The average electric vehicle uses about .5 kg (just over 1 pound) of rare earths elements, and a fossil-fuel car uses just half that, according to the International Energy Agency. China has clamped down before, including in a 2010 dispute with Japan, during which it curbed rare-earths exports. Japan had to find alternative suppliers, and by 2018, China accounted for only 58% of its rare earth imports. "China has had a rare-earth card to play whenever they wanted to," said Mark Smith, CEO of mining company NioCorp, which is developing a rare-earth project in Nebraska scheduled to start production within three years. Across the industry, automakers have been trying to wean off China for rare-earth magnets, or even develop magnets that do not need those elements. But most efforts are years away from the scale needed. "It's really about identifying ... and finding alternative solutions" outside China, Joseph Palmieri, head of supply chain management at supplier Aptiv, said at a conference in Detroit last week. Automakers including General Motors and BMW and major suppliers such as ZF and BorgWarner are working on motors with low-to-zero rare-earth content, but few have managed to scale production enough to cut costs. The EU has launched initiatives including the Critical Raw Materials Act to boost European rare-earth sources. But it has not moved fast enough, said Noah Barkin, a senior advisor at Rhodium Group, a China-focused U.S. think tank. Even players that have developed marketable products struggle to compete with Chinese producers on price. David Bender, co-head of German metal specialist Heraeus' magnet recycling business, said it is only operating at 1% capacity and will have to close next year if sales do not increase. Minneapolis-based Niron has developed rare-earth free magnets and has raised more than $250 million from investors including GM, Stellantis and auto supplier Magna. "We've seen a step change in interest from investors and customers" since China's export controls took effect, CEO Jonathan Rowntree said. It is planning a $1 billion plant scheduled to start production in 2029. England-based Warwick Acoustics has developed rare-earth-free speakers expected to appear in a luxury car later this year. CEO Mike Grant said the company has been in talks with another dozen automakers, although the speakers are not expected to be available in mainstream models for about five years. As auto companies scout longer-term solutions, they are left scrambling to avert imminent factory shutdowns. Automakers must figure out which of their suppliers – and smaller ones a few links up the supply chain – need export permits. Mercedes-Benz, for example, is talking to suppliers about building rare-earth stockpiles. Analysts said the constraints could force automakers to make cars without certain parts and park them until they become available, as GM and others did during the semiconductor crisis. Automakers' reliance on China does not end with rare earth elements. A 2024 European Commission report said China controls more than 50% of global supply of 19 key raw materials, including manganese, graphite and aluminum. Andy Leyland, co-founder of supply chain specialist SC Insights, said any of those elements could be used as leverage by China. "This just is a warning shot," he said. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
32 minutes ago
- Yahoo
AMG Critical Materials N.V. Announces New Global Head of Investor Relations
--- AMG Critical Materials N.V. ("AMG", EURONEXT AMSTERDAM: "AMG") is pleased to announce that Mr. Thomas Swoboda has been appointed the new global Head of Investor Relations, effective immediately. He is the successor to Ms. Michele Fischer, who has held that position for the last six years and has transitioned to Head of Human Resources on a global level as Executive Vice President. Thomas brings over 18 years of international capital market experience with him. He joins AMG from Société Generale/Bernstein, where he was Director of Equity Research since 2015. Before that, he was a Senior Equity Analyst at MainFirst Bank/Stifel. Thomas holds a degree in Business Administration from Mannheim University, where he was a recipient of the Research Award of the Prechel-Stiftung. He is multilingual, with proficiency in German, English and Portuguese (Brazilian). He will be based at our Frankfurt office, reporting to Dr. Heinz Schimmelbusch, CEO and Chairman of the Management Board. He can be reached directly by email at tswoboda@ or by phone at +49 176 1000 73 14. About AMG AMG's mission is to provide critical materials and related process technologies to advance a less carbon-intensive world. To this end, AMG is focused on the production and development of energy storage materials such as lithium, vanadium, and tantalum. In addition, AMG's products include highly engineered systems to reduce CO2 in aerospace engines, as well as critical materials addressing CO2 reduction in a variety of other end use markets. AMG's Lithium segment spans the lithium value chain, reducing the CO2 footprint of both suppliers and customers. AMG's Vanadium segment is the world's market leader in recycling vanadium from oil refining residues, spanning the Company's vanadium, titanium, and chrome businesses. AMG's Technologies segment is the established world market leader in advanced metallurgy and provides equipment engineering to the aerospace engine sector globally. It serves as the engineering home for the Company's fast-growing LIVA batteries, NewMOX SAS formed to span the nuclear fuel market, and spans AMG's mineral processing operations in graphite, antimony, and silicon metal. With approximately 3,600 employees, AMG operates globally with production facilities in Germany, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, China, Mexico, Brazil, India, and Sri Lanka, and has sales and customer service offices in Japan ( For further information, please contact:AMG Critical Materials N.V. +49 176 1000 73 14Thomas Swobodatswoboda@ Disclaimer Certain statements in this press release are not historical facts and are 'forward looking'. Forward looking statements include statements concerning AMG's plans, expectations, projections, objectives, targets, goals, strategies, future events, future revenues or performance, capital expenditures, financing needs, plans and intentions relating to acquisitions, AMG's competitive strengths and weaknesses, plans or goals relating to forecasted production, reserves, financial position and future operations and development, AMG's business strategy and the trends AMG anticipates in the industries and the political and legal environment in which it operates and other information that is not historical information. When used in this press release, the words 'expects,' 'believes,' 'anticipates,' 'plans,' 'may,' 'will,' 'should,' and similar expressions, and the negatives thereof, are intended to identify forward looking statements. By their very nature, forward looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties, both general and specific, and risks exist that the predictions, forecasts, projections and other forward looking statements will not be achieved. These forward looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release. AMG expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward looking statement contained herein to reflect any change in AMG's expectations with regard thereto or any change in events, conditions, or circumstances on which any forward looking statement is based. Attachment AMG IR AppointmentError in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Hamilton Spectator
2 hours ago
- Hamilton Spectator
Saudi Arabia's World Cup hopes hinge on a near-impossible task against Australia
A Saudi squad that has scored six goals through nine qualifying games needs to beat Australia by a five-goal margin to earn a direct spot at the 2026 World Cup. Head coach Herve Renard knows it's an extremely unlikely outcome for his Saudi team, but he's urging his players to go all in Tuesday in the last game of the third round of Asian qualifying for next year's global tournament. 'The door is closed but we have to try to qualify even if it is through the window,' Renard said after his team's 2-0 win over Bahrain last week kept Saudi. 'Everything must go very well for us if we are to qualify; we have to score goals.' Anything less than a five-goal deficit means Australia — in second spot in Group C — qualifies for a seventh World Cup. The last time the Socceroos lost by such a margin was in successive 6-0 defeats against Brazil and France in 2013. The Australians have scored 14 goals and conceded six through nine qualifiers. After successive World Cup qualifications through the playoffs, Australia is close to securing a direct route but coach Tony Popovic is taking nothing for granted. 'We need to do a job in Saudi,' Popovic said. 'We're in a great position, but we need to finish it off.' Popovic has only been in the job since September, stepping in after Graham Arnold resigned after collecting just one point in the group's first two qualification games. 'It's been a really intense period since I've come in but everyone's embraced what we're aiming to do,' he said. 'And we're very close now to achieving our goal.' Asia has been allocated eight places at the 48-team World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. The top two teams in each of the three groups in this round advance directly. The third- and fourth-place teams in each group go into another round vying for two more places. Japan was the first to qualify and will top Group C regardless of the outcome between Australia and third-place Saudi Arabia. Iran and Uzbekistan have qualified from Group A, and South Korea and Jordan have qualified from Group B. If Saudi Arabia fails to win by five, it will join United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Indonesia and Iraq in the next stage of qualifying in October. Oman, meanwhile, is fourth in Group B, a point ahead of the Palestinian team in fifth place, with the two teams meeting in Amman on Tuesday. 'We still have everything to play for and we know what we have to do and that is to take all three points and continue our journey,' Palestinian coach Ihab Abujazar said. For China , Kuwait, North Korea, Kyrgyzstan and Bahrain, the run to 2026 is already over. ___ AP soccer:
