Is Nagelsmann coming back from the DFB?
FC Bayern is preparing a spectacular return campaign
March 30, 2024, 10:14 a.m
Before the home European Championships, national coach Julian Nagelsmann would like to know what will happen professionally after the tournament. His contract with the German Football Association expires in the summer – and it seems as if FC Bayern is thinking about signing the 36-year-old for a second time.
It’s been almost exactly a year since FC Bayern released its then coach Julian Nagelsmann. Back then, in March 2023, a few days after a 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen, the Munich team “came to the realization that the quality of our squad – despite the German championship last year – was becoming increasingly rare.” Nagelsmann’s inadequate work then “called into question our goals this season, but also beyond this season,” as CEO Oliver Kahn, who was also fired two months later, said. Now, in March 2024, Julian Nagelsmann is apparently once again a coach that Bayern officials trust with this job.
Max Eberl, FC Bayern’s new sports director, is said to have already contacted Nagelsmann’s side. This is reported by “Bild”, which also states that the 36-year-old is not averse to returning to the Bavarian capital. It would be a spectacular return campaign, after all Nagelsmann would be the successor to his successor Thomas Tuchel.
His contract as national coach of the German national team currently runs until the home European Championship this summer, after which Nagelsmann would be available for a new job. Or just a return to the old one. Probably also because a lot has changed in the key positions of the Munich team: Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidžić are gone, Max Eberl and Christoph Freund have taken over. Honorary President Uli Hoeneß, still omnipresent around Säbener Strasse, said just this week that the dismissal at a time “when all three titles were still possible, that is actually not a thing that suits FC Bayern” – especially since ” “There was also not enough patience on our part.”
Nagelsmann, in turn, national coach since September 2023, had recently repeatedly emphasized in connection with the test match successes in France (2:0) and against the Netherlands (2:1) that he wanted to clarify his future after the European Championships before the start of the tournament. While the German Football Association is interested in an extension, Nagelsmann should also look into alternatives in club football. With the renewed euphoria surrounding the DFB team, the former Hoffenheim and Leipzig head coach has once again played his way into the foreground, and top international clubs are also said to be interested again and again.
The Munich team had hoped for Xabi Alonso, but he will stay with designated champions Bayer Leverkusen. Now Roberto de Zerbi from the Premier League club and Ralf Rangnick, currently the Austrian national coach, are said to be among the more promising candidates. Max Eberl recently said that it would be “nice if we could manage” to fix Tuchel’s successor in April. But “if it takes longer, then it takes a little longer,” explained the 50-year-old: “We want to make the best decision.” Which apparently could also consist of revising a decision made by his predecessors.