Ermedin Demirović has used Stuttgart's pre-season camp to shut down summer exit talk. The striker said he always wanted to stay at VfB Stuttgart, and his numbers from 2025/26 give the message real weight: 15 goals in all competitions, plus a second-half burst that carried him through the spring.
Demirović's case for staying
"Leaving was never an option for me," Demirović told bundesliga.com. He added: "I heard about the rumours while I was away, but I always said I wanted to stay at VfB. I get along very well with [head coach] Sebastian Hoeneß. Nothing has changed in my mind."
The football side of the story is just as tidy. After being sidelined for nearly two months with a foot injury, Demirović came back to score 9 Bundesliga goals in 19 appearances from January onwards. That is the kind of run that makes exit talk look misplaced, especially when he has already produced 15 goals in all competitions for Stuttgart this season.
Stuttgart's season ahead
Stuttgart finished fourth in the Bundesliga, which earned Champions League qualification for the second time in three seasons. Keeping a forward who has already shown he can score in volume is an obvious plus, and Demirović sounds set on extending that run rather than resetting it somewhere else.
He was even clearer on that point in his final quote: "I want to score goals and help the team. I'm going to try and build on my performances from the past few years."
Stuttgart open their new season against Hansa Rostock in the first round of the DFB Cup on Friday 21 August, before a Bundesliga opener at Bayern Munich seven days later.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
