(GSM) – Stuttgart defender Ludovic Magnin claims Jens Lehmann has been causing dismay and disrupting the harmony in the Stuttgart dressing room in recent weeks. Lehmann has caused problems at club after criticizing the management and producing several below-par performances.
Magnin will be leaving Stuttgart after agreeing a transfer to Zurich on Friday. The transfer will take place on January 1 once the Winter transfer window opens.
“Jens is not a person to set the tone off the field,” Magnin told the Bild newspaper.
Lehmann was given permission to take an extra day off per week in the contract he signed with Stuttgart in 2008, while he can also travel back home alone from away matches when he wishes.
Magnin revealed Lehmann’s special treatment has not been welcomed by his club team-mates.
“Football is a team sport and whenever things aren’t going well, then these privileges are made out to be the problem,” added the Swiss international.
“What may not be an issue when you are successful becomes more disturbing than an elephant when things aren’t going well.
“I told Jens this in a chat four weeks ago.
“He demands a lot from his team-mates and I would have expected him to show up for training the following day.”
Lehmann is suspended for the next three matches after receiving a red card against Mainz on Saturday.
Retired goalkeeper Oliver Kahn, who was Lehmann’s rival for the goalkeeping spot in the German national team, called on the 40-year-old Stuttgart goalkeeper to hang his boots and spare himself the extra embarrassment.
