Nico-Jan Hoogma has confirmed he has held talks with former club Hamburg over a role as the club's sporting director.
The German club have been struggling this season, currently sitting bottom of the Bundesliga, while they rank alongside Ingolstadt, Sunderland and Granada as the only clubs across Europe's top five leagues yet to record a victory this term.
Hamburg have already sacked coach Bruno Labbadia this season and made little progress under new boss Markus Gisdol, while the club's CEO Dietmar Beiersdorfer also currently functions as their sporting director following the dismissal of Peter Knabel in May.
Beiersdorfer may soon be able to focus on his duties as CEO, though, with Hoogma, who played for Hamburg between 1998 and 2004 and is currently sporting director at Heracles Almelo, revealing to Voetbal International that he is in "good talks" with the club.
However, Hoogma added that "no doubt there are several candidates" for the job at Hamburg -- something which has been backed up by reports in Germany, with Schalke sporting executive Horst Heldt having also been linked with the Bundesliga strugglers.