Lucien Favre has hinted he may leave Borussia Dortmund at the end of the 2019/20 season following Tuesday's defeat to Bayern Munich that left the Rurh Valley club seven points adrift of the Bundesliga leaders.
With only six games remaining, it seems unlikely Dortmund will reel in the Bavarians to stop them being crowned German champions for a record eighth successive season.
For the second season running under Favre, second-placed Dortmund find themselves wanting at the tail end of the campaign that only restarted two weeks ago following a two-month shutdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Swiss gave a resigned grin when asked if Tuesday's 1-0 home loss to Bayern, settled by Joshua Kimmich's delightful chip, proved breaking Bayern's stranglehold on the championship was beyond Favre's reach.
"That's been said here for months," said Favre, 62, who has a year left on his Dortmund contract.
"I know how these things go and I will talk about it in a few weeks.
"I'm staying calm and I trust in myself."
The home defeat in Dortmund came on the back of a 4-0 drubbing at the hands of Bayern last November at Munich's Allianz Arena.
"It's going be difficult - seven points [to make up] in six games, that is brutally hard," said Favre.
According to German daily Bild on Wednesday, Dortmund's bosses made contact "in the past few months" with Niko Kovac, who was sacked by Bayern in November, as a possible successor to Favre.
Bild also claim that RB Leipzig coach Julian Nagelsmann is Dortmund's ideal candidate, but the 32-year-old is under contract until 2023.
