Bundesliga starts

Bulls refrain from announcements before the start

Confident: Seonbuchner.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Salzburg and GAK open the new Bundesliga season tomorrow evening. Sporting director Bernhard Seonbuchner is confident ahead of the kick-off, but is not sending a message to champions Sturm Graz. Meanwhile, the departure of midfielder Luka Sucic draws ever closer.

Sporting director Bernhard Seonbuchner and coach Pep Lijnders arrived at Wednesday's press conference ahead of tomorrow's Bundesliga opener (20:30, live on Sky) in good spirits and full of anticipation. The Bulls open the new season with a visit to GAK. "I'm really looking forward to the game. We had a good preparation, I can only compliment the lads," said Lijnders, looking forward to his first Bundesliga encounter with great optimism. Seonbuchner also has a good feeling about the coming season. "Our goals are clear," says the Bavarian, referring of course to winning the championship and the ÖFB Cup.

Seonbuchner (left) and Lijnders.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The 41-year-old does not want to make a big issue of the fact that the Bulls are the hunters again this year for the first time in a long time. Nor does he want to send a message to the reigning champions Sturm. "For me, it's not about assigning roles or declaring war. We just want to get the season off to a successful start."

"Enthusiasm is there"
Seonbuchner speaks very highly of the first few weeks under new coach Lijnders. "It's great fun to watch the coach and the coaching team at work. The team is being pulled along and I like the way they are performing. There is an enthusiasm. The lads all want to get better, and we give them the opportunity to do so."

Sucic will probably never cheer for Salzburg again.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The sporting director spoke yesterday not only about the coming season, but also about the current transfer window. Although he initially emphasized that he would not comment on rumours, he subsequently let a few things slip. For example, Seonbuchner confirmed that Strahinja Pavlovic is currently in concrete talks. However, the Serbian's transfer to Milan is probably only a formality anyway. More exciting were the Bayers' statements regarding Luka Sucic. As the "Krone" already reported on Wednesday, the "magic foot" is probably not an issue for the squad for the game in Graz. Seonbuchner has now also confirmed this: "Luka is currently in talks, which is why he hasn't been on the training pitch recently." The Croatian's departure seems unavoidable.

Squad is still too big
There are also likely to be further, somewhat smaller transfers in the coming weeks. The runners-up currently have over 30 players in their squad and competition is fierce. By the end of the current transfer period on September 5, one or two bulls will probably have to leave the herd.