Stuttgart sack coach Hannes Wolf

“After intensive discussions late into the night, it has been decided that Hannes Wolf is no longer the coach of VfB Stuttgart,” a statement on the club’s website said.

It said a successor would be named in the next few days.

The 36-year-old Wolf, who helped Stuttgart win promotion back to Germany’s top flight last season, has paid the price for picking up just four points in his last eight league games.

Stuttgart are 15th in the table and just three points from the relegation places.

Having been in charge since September 2016, Wolf is the seventh head coach to be sacked by a Bundesliga club this season.

He was one of four Bundesliga coaches under the age of 40 alongside Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann, 30, Werder Bremen’s Florian Kohfeldt, 35, and Schalke’s Domenico Tedesco, 32.

“This is a development that nobody wanted, so we are all disappointed, but in the end we all agreed that things could not go on like this,” said Stuttgart President Wolfgang Dietrich.

Former Wolfsburg coach Andries Jonker, ex-Schalke boss Markus Weinzierl and veteran Felix Magath, who won the 2009 Bundesliga title at Wolfsburg, have been linked to the vacancy.

Stuttgart signed veteran German international striker Mario Gomez, 32, in the winter break, but his arrival has failed to halt the slide.

The burly forward, back at the club where he started his career before joining Bayern Munich in 2009, is still waiting for his first goal after three games.