Southampton receive big Tonda Eckert boost despite top-flight club circling | OneFootball

Southampton manager Tonda Eckert has been linked with a move to German side, VfB Stuttgart, in what is a worrying update to hear for Saints fans.

Southampton's impressive late push for promotion back into the Premier League has come at the ideal time, with the Saints well-positioned to return to the top-flight.

They lacked consistency in the parts of the first-half of the 2025/26 season, which will have been frustrating to witness for the club's supporters.

However, since the turn of the New Year, Southampton have certainly been heading in the right direction, which has seen manager, Tonda Eckert, gaining plenty of plaudits.

The Saints are currently sat fourth in the Championship table, and just three points off the automatic promotion places with two games remaining in this year's league campaign. The automatic promotion places seem like a tough ask for Southampton to reach, especially after they dropped vital points against Bristol City in midweek, with Ipswich Town holding a game in-hand.

Alongside this, they're also still in the FA Cup, and have a mouthwatering semi-final tie against Manchester City still to play, which comes after a hugely impressive win against Arsenal at St Mary's.

However, Southampton are unbeaten in their last 17 matches in the Championship, and will be a real threat to any team they come up against in the play-offs, if the Saints are to narrowly miss out on a spot in the top-two.

Stuttgart eyeing move for Tonda Eckert

With all the plaudits Eckert has had with Southampton this season, it isn't too surprising to hear that he's attracting interest from other clubs ahead of what could be an interesting summer for the Saints boss.

German media outlet, Bild claim that VfB Stuttgart have Eckert on their shortlist for a potential new manager, with the Southampton boss catching the eye for all the right reasons with the German club.

Stuttgart are currently sat fourth in the Bundesliga table, and their current manager, Sebastian Hoeneß is reportedly attracting interest from Real Madrid ahead of the 2026/27 campaign.

It remains to be seen as to whether talks between Hoeneß and the Spanish giants are at an advanced stage, but Stuttgart are seemingly putting plans in place if he was to depart this summer.

What does the future hold for Eckert at Southampton?

Many Southampton fans will be fearing the worst after this recent report from Bild, but fear not, it seems as though the Saints boss is keen to stick to the job at hand with the Championship side.

Bild claim that Eckert 'doesn’t intend to look for a new club’ in the summer because he’s ‘very comfortable’ at Southampton. Eckert originally arrived with the Saints as the club's Under-21s head coach.

He then stepped into the managerial dugout with Southampton's first-team, after Will Still's forgetful spell in charge of the senior team reached a conclusion in November 2025.

Eckert has gone from strength-to-strength as the months have progressed in charge of the first-team, and if he can cap a memorable start to life as manager of Southampton with promotion into the Premier League, then it seems almost certain that he'll stick around at St Mary's for the foreseeable future.

However, Bild's report on Stuttgart's interest in Eckert only highlights that the Southampton boss is on their shortlist of potential candidates, and it would be interesting to see if the 33-year-old's stance would change if an official approach was made by the Bundesliga club.