Hamburg - Former Germany captain Lothar Matthaeus will not take over as coach of Argentina's Racing Club, it was reported Wednesday. Germany's Bild newspaper said Matthaeus, 48, informed the club of his decision to reject its offer in an SMS short text message.
Matthaues was also quoted by Express daily to appear Thursday that he decided to turn down the offer after long consideration.
"The overall concept did not fit," he said.
However Argentina's Telam news agency quoted Racing Club president Rodolfo Molina as saying: "Racing took the decision that Matthaeus should not come."
The Bild report, also to appear Thursday, quotes Juan Cobian, an adviser involved in contract negotiations, as saying Racing had fulfilled all of the former player's demands.
"Then came the rejection during the night by SMS. That was ridiculous. We are all disappointed," he was quoted as saying.
Molina had said on Saturday that Matthaeus was due to arrive "next week" and to take over from Ricardo Caruso Lombardi, who resigned a fortnight ago.
Matthaeus captained Germany to the 1990 World Cup title and is the nation's most-capped player with 150 matches. As a coach he won league titles with Partizan Belgrade and Red Bull Salzburg and has also worked in Hungary, Israel and Brazil.
