Hamburg have demoted U.S. international Julian Green to their reserves, meaning he will now play in the fourth tier of German football.
Green, 19, joined Hamburg on loan from Bayern Munich in the summer, with the attacker hoping to gain Bundesliga playing time after his appearances at the World Cup in Brazil.
But he was substituted in his first match -- a defeat at Hannover -- and, a few days later, coach Mirko Slomka was sacked.
Green made four substitute appearances under Slomka's replacement Joe Zinnnbauer, but was not selected in the squad on several occasions.
Despite vowing to fight for his place in an interview with ESPN FC's Jeff Carlisle during the winter break, he will feature for the reserve team from now on, Hamburg sporting director Peter Knabel has said.
"He has to impose himself there. The under-23 team is no trash can after all," Knabel told Bild. "It's the flagship of our academy."
Hamburg do not have an option to make Green's move permanent, and he will return to Bayern in the summer.
Green denied being aware of the move as he posted the following statement on his Facebook page: "Hi everybody, Just to make it clear: nobody from HSV has spoken to me at all. I read in the papers that apparently I'm now playing for the U23. HSV took me on on the third day of the season to reinforce the first team. This was and is my aim, and is the reason why I transferred.
"I'm a licensed player, I haven't done anything wrong and I give all I've got in the training sessions. I always want to do my best to keep us in the league. If they let me play, I'll shoot goals."