Bundesliga second division side Hamburger SV seem ready to let former Japan international Gotoku Sakai go this summer, Kicker reported.

Sakai, who joined Hamburg from Stuttgart in 2015, has played 33 out of 37 matches this season, but missed the crucial league match against fellow promotion-chasing Union Berlin on matchday 31. Despite that, the vice-captain has always been viewed as a team regular.

According to Kicker, the team management felt that the squad lacks players who are leaders, and concluded that players like Lewis Holtby, who has announced his decision to leave, and Sakai cannot fulfill that role. Sakai’s contract with Hamburg is until 2020, but the club will let him go if an offer comes.

Hamburg have fallen off the pace in their bid for promotion in the second half of the season. With two league games to go, they currently lie 4th in the league after a poor run of 7 matches without a win (3 draws, 4 losses).

P Team M W D L P 1 FC Koln 32 19 5 8 62 2 Paderborn 32 15 9 8 54 3 Union Berlin 32 13 14 5 53 4 Hamburger SV 32 15 8 9 53 5 FC Heidenheim 32 13 10 9 49 6 St. Pauli 32 14 6 12 48 7 Holstein Kiel 32 12 10 10 46 8 Jahn Regensburg 32 11 12 9 45 9 Arminia Bielefeld 32 11 10 11 43 10 Darmstadt 32 12 7 13 43 11 Bochum 32 11 9 12 42 12 Erzgebirge Aue 32 11 6 15 39 13 Dynamo Dresden 32 10 9 13 39 14 Greuther Fuerth 32 9 11 12 38 15 Sandhausen 32 9 10 13 37 16 Ingolstadt 32 8 8 16 32 17 Magdeburg 32 6 12 14 30 18 Duisburg 32 6 10 16 28

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Source: Yahoo

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