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Bundesliga minnows Augsburg have improbably secured their top flight survival, with a game to spare. Yet Dutch coach Jos Luhukay looks set to depart a year ahead of schedule - the club has promised news by Sunday.

Several German media outlets, perhaps most notably mass-circulation tabloid Bild, reported Friday not just that Augsburg coach Jos Luhukay was set to leave his post with a year remaining on his contract, but also that his replacement had already been lined up.

Current coach of third division side Jahn Regensburg, Markus Weinzierl, is reportedly poised to take over a post that has not yet officially been vacated.

Augsburg's management did not comment directly on the rumors at a Friday press conference ahead of their last Bundesliga game of the season, at home against Hamburg, on Saturday - but they also did little to dispel the talk.

"We won't send the players off on their holidays on Sunday with any uncertainties concerning their coach," club manager Andreas Rettig said.

Luhukay, who has improbably steered the Bundesliga's poorest club to safety in a season buoyed by solid home form, is reported to have an excellent working relationship with Rettig. He has apparently found it increasingly difficult to work with club chairman Walther Seinsch, however, who had pledged earlier in the season to stick with his current coach even if Augsburg faced relegation into the second division.

Luhukay, left, and Rettig were always said to get on very well

"We are still in negotiations. I hope that a decision will be reached in the very near future," Luhukay told reporters in Augsburg Friday. "I have had no contact at all with other clubs."

Stellar season, all things considered

Luhukay took the reins at Augsburg in April 2009, guiding the club into the top flight of German league football for the first time in its history and since securing that position for at least another 12 months.

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Augsburg pledge word on coach Luhukay's fate at weekend