With Christian Ilzer, Schalke 04 seemed to have a very interesting coaching candidate on Thursday evening. But it quickly became clear that the Sturm Graz coach is probably not a realistic option for royal blue.

Ilzer was the first candidate associated with Schalke who didn't come from the typical "once a Bundesliga coach, always a Bundesliga coach bubble". The fans quickly found out about his desired style of play and his communication on the Internet. For some Gelsenkirchen supporters, it quickly became clear that he could be one of the much better candidates.

But that hope is quickly gone. It now seems as if the issue has already been resolved.

After the picture initially reported interest in Ilzer, a few hours later the first denials from other outlets followed. Sport1, for example, reported late in the evening that the coach was not interested in changing during the current season – regardless of the club.

This is also due to Graz' good season so far. In the league you are second behind RB Salzburg and in the Europa League there is a chance of making it into the knockout phase.

It is not surprising that the Austrian club did not want to let their coach go. "No one from Schalke has contacted us and so far there has been no contact. We are very successful with Christian Ilzer and are not even thinking of giving him up," said sports director Andreas Schicker when asked by Sport1.

Ilzer himself is not even thinking about saying goodbye, it was said. He gave it even more emphasis with an Instagram story. There he asserted: "Rumors - no more! Full focus on Sturm Graz. Big challenges await us in the coming days and weeks."

Schalke also has to say goodbye to him as a coaching candidate. Insofar as he was a serious alternative for those responsible for S04 in the meantime.

This article was originally published on 90min.com/de as "Rumors, no more!": Ilzer not a coaching candidate for Schalke 04.