Magath hired for Wolfsburg rescue

Felix Magath has returned to Wolfsburg as head coach just two days after his departure from Bundesliga rivals Schalke.

Magath, 57, parted company with Schalke on Wednesday and has already agreed a two-year contract with Wolfsburg, the club he walked out on after winning the Bundesliga title in 2009.

The former Germany international departed Schalke acrimoniously despite guiding the club to the DFB Cup final and the last eight of the Champions League.

Magath claims he resigned, but other reports indicate he was sacked. He is now tasked with saving struggling Wolfsburg from relegation.

“I agreed immediately,” Magath said in regards to the offer from his former club.

“When I left Wolfsburg after the amazing success, there was a lot of sadness. I was always happy here.”

“Of course the contact from Wolfsburg a few days ago came as a surprise, but I did not have to consider it for a second. Everything then went very quickly.”

Wolfsburg sacked English manager Steve McLaren in February and the team have since lost four out of five matches under caretaker Pierre Littbarski and are second bottom in the league, two points from safety.

General manager Dieter Hoeness has paid for the failures of McLaren and Littbarski with his job – the former Bayern striker will now leave the club, with Magath set to take over his duties.

“We had several open and constructive discussions to analyse the situation, but we had different opinions,” Wolfsburg chairman Dr Garcia Sanz said, referring to Hoeness’s stance on the new manager.

“We therefore decided to part company mutually. We would like to thank Dieter Hoeness for the work he has done.”

“We made contact with Felix Magath on Tuesday evening and then everything went quite quickly.”