Former Germany midfielder Stefan Effenberg has announced he is quitting Wolfsburg because he had “irreconcilable differences” with the club’s new coach JuergenRoeber.

Effenberg, who joined the club as a free agent at the start of the season, confirmed that the Bundesliga club had agreed to release him immediately after he fell out with the coach. Roeber, who was appointed to succeed Wolfgang Wolf last month, demanded the former Bayern Munich midfielder lose weight.

“There were irreconcilable differences with trainer Roeber,” Effenberg said in an interview with Bild newspaper.

“I’m sorry for the team, the fans and especially for manager Peter Pander because there is a lot of potential in Wolfsburg. But with Roeber it just wasn’t going to work out.”

Effenberg, who joined Wolfsburg at the start of the current season after leading Bayern Munich to a European Cup triumph in 2001, has been freed from the remainder of his one-year deal.

“The final straw came 10 days ago when Roeber made me get on a scale and the result was 90 kilograms,” Effenberg said.

“That’s the same weight I had when Bayern won the Champions League. I was told ‘You have two weeks to lose two kilos’.

“I thought I was in the middle of a bad film. What’s going on here. I’m 34 years old and know what I have to do to bring an optimal performance out of myself.”

The decisioin to leave Wolfsburg could mark the end of what has been at times a controversial career.

His international career ended at the 1994 World Cup in the United States when he was sent home after giving fans a single finger gesture. He also made the headlines two years ago when he accused unemployed people of being lazy. Two years ago he settled out of court after being charged with assault for hitting a woman in a Munich nightclub.