Hecking: No link between Wolfsburg´s form and De Bruyne rumours

Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking denied his team were distracted by ongoing transfer speculation surrounding Kevin De Bruyne but conceded he was “not satisfied” with their draw at Cologne.

Substitute Nicklas Bendtner saved Hecking’s men at the RheinEnergieStadion, with the Danish striker tapping the ball over the line in the 83rd minute to secure a 1-1 draw on Saturday.

Cologne had led at half-time through Simon Zoller’s goal on the half-hour mark and Hecking claimed Wolfsburg had been poor for at least the first hour, although he praised their ability to earn a result, as Daniel Caligiuri and Bendtner combined to produce an equaliser after both started on the bench.

Caligiuri found space for a shot after a long throw by Wolfsburg and his effort was parried into the path of Bendtner, who made no mistake from a yard out.

“That was not a good game on our behalf. Our display over 60 minutes was uninspired and had very little to do with tempo football,” Hecking said at his post-match news conference.

“That was the case for a period against Frankfurt and it was even more noticeable here today. We need to turn things around very quickly.

“After an hour we got a better grip on proceedings and then we got our goal. That is one of my team’s strengths. On the whole though, I am not satisfied.”

With De Bruyne expected to join Manchester City before the end of the transfer window, some reporters suggested to Hecking that Wolfsburg were struggling to focus with the Belgian playmaker’s future still uncertain.

Hecking was not convinced.

“I don’t see how that is affecting us. You cannot blame a bad game only on one player. So I do not see a correlation,” he said.