Westermann’s Hamburg deal near completion

(GSM) – The long-awaited deal to send Heiko Westermann to Hamburg from Schalke appears to be coming to completion after the defender left a Schalke training session on Tuesday.

According to German sports daily Kicker, 26-year-old Westermann will undergo a medical with Hamburg on Wednesday, and the official announcement of his signing would come soon after.

On Monday, Schalke manager Felix Magath was quoted as saying he conceded that the deal to send Westermann to Hamburg would become official soon.

Hamburg have a need for the German international after they missed out on Europe with a poor seventh-place showing in the Bundesliga last season.

Westermann made 92 Bundesliga appearances in three seasons for Schalke after joining from Arminia Bielefeld in 2007. He began his senior career in 2002 with Greuther Fürth, and has won 19 caps for Germany.

New Hamburg manager Armin Veh has been active this summer, already inking defender Dennis Diekmeier and goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny to contracts.

Westermann would be a direct replacement for Bastian Reinhardt, who retired after last season to take the role as Hamburg’s sporting director.