BERLIN - Newly-crowned Bundesliga champions VfB Stuttgart said on Sunday they are releasing Serbia's Danijel Ljuboja and Dane Jon Dahl Tomasson, but are looking to recruit Turkey's Yildiray Basturk.
Tomasson, a 30-year-old attacking midfielder is currently on loan at Villarreal, while Ljuboja, 28, who has won 19 caps for his country, has spent the season on loan at Hamburg, scoring five goals in 16 appearances.
But Stuttgart president Erwin Staudt said the German champions have no plans for the pair, although Hertha Berlin's out-of-contract Turkish international midfielder Basturk, 28, is a definite target.
"He is one of the best leaders in the Bundesliga and we are interested in him," said Staudt of Basturk, who has won 45 caps.
"But Ljuboja and Tomasson will not be part of our preparations for next season," he told television channel DSF.
Serbian Ljuboja is under contract with Stuttgart until 2009, but Hamburg did not take up the option to sign him permanently and the former Paris St Germain star has been linked to Lens and St Etienne.
Since his arrival in 2005, Ljuboja has failed to re-capture his impressive form in his first Bundesliga season, when he bagged eight goals in 26 games, and has since suffered from disciplinary problems.
He played in most of Hamburg's early games but fell out of favour with Dutch coach Huub Stevens when he succeeded Thomas Doll in February, and Ljuboja has not played since the end of January.
In contrast, Tomasson, who has scored 39 goals in 78 internationals, has never really made an impression at Stuttgart since former coach Gionvanni Trapattoni signed him in 2005 from AC Milan.
Having picked up their first Bundesliga title since 1992 on Saturday, Stuttgart are now hunting their first league-cup double when they play Nuremberg in the final next Saturday at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.
05/20/2007 12:32 GMT