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Berlin (dpa) - On the cover picture of his homepage, Arne Friedrich poses next to the veteran coach Hermann Gerland.

However, the admission is not to be understood as an indication of the solution to his first major task in new responsibility at the Hertha BSC crisis club.

The search for a new head coach was entrusted to the ex-national player, who had risen from the unusual position of performance manager to sports director and now interim successor to permanent manager Michael Preetz, with a different objective than poaching Bayern's aged assistant coach.

But Friedrich should help his boss Carsten Schmidt to find a solution quickly and effectively - by this Monday if possible - that will make Hertha happy again in the Bundesliga and bring it back up from 14th place.

After the separation of Bruno Labbadia from ex-coach and club icon Pal Dardai, the publicly traded range of candidates extends to Ralf Rangnick, who thinks more in global player dimensions.

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Friedrich is possibly located exactly in between.

As an ex-Hertha player, he knows the club well.

The two-time World Cup third party played 281 times for Blau-Weiß - more often than for any other club.

The 41-year-old brought international impulses to the capital from his time in the USA.

Friedrich is practically the last remnant of the short and inglorious era of ex-supervisory board and ex-trainer Jürgen Klinsmann.

As inconspicuously elegant as he used to defend himself against opposing strikers, Friedrich has survived all the recent Hertha upheavals.

“The native of East Westphalia always knew what he wanted and started setting priorities early on,” says his own homepage.

«I am very happy that Arne is behind the task.

I got to know him as an opinionated, reflective and energetic colleague », said Schmidt about Friedrich.

The Hertha CEO also explicitly liked a first address by the ex-defender in front of the players on Sunday.

And yet Friedrich only works on probation until summer.

He did not inherit the official title of Preetz.

«Yes, Arne remains in his position as sports director.

He will not be the managing director in this short time, ”said Schmidt.

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© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210124-99-154293 / 3

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