#INSERT type:image caption:Horst Heldt's contract at Schalke expires at the end of the season, and Heidel is tipped to replace him. END#
Mainz president Harald Strutz has said general manager Christian Heidel will not be leaving for Schalke in the near future.
Bundesliga rivals Schalke are understood to have made an approach for Heidel to replace Horst Heldt, whose contract expires next summer.
With Heldt appearing increasingly unlikely to be offered a new deal, reports said Heidel could be in place before next summer -- but Strutz ruled that out.
"There is agreement between us and Christian Heidel that a departure in the short term is out of the question," he said after a board meeting on Monday.
"It is also something that this club could not handle right now."
Heidel is contracted to Mainz until 2017 and has said he would never leave before then if it would damage the club in any way.
Strutz has not entirely ruled out him being released prematurely, and sport1.de reported him as saying: "We've got to see what develops over the coming months.
"We will take it from there. There is nothing more I can add today."