Monday, April 26, 2021
Nagelsmann for FC Bayern
Finally a dream coach again
By Tobias Nordmann
FC Bayern has as good as solved its coaching problem: FC Bayern can let Hansi Flick go because Julian Nagelsmann will be the desired successor. The 33-year-old’s commitment is also linked to the desire for more peace.
When Julian Nagelsmann wanted a man for the left wing for the second half of last season, he took his luck into his own hands. After a phone call with Josep Guardiola, he brought Angeliño from Manchester to Leipzig on the last day of the winter transfer window. There, at the Bundesliga soccer club RB, the little Spaniard played so furiously that the Saxons signed him up for the summer. It’s actually a good idea, because Angeliño is one of the best in a strong Leipzig team in the current round.
When Hansi Flick wanted, among other things, a man for the right wing for the second half of last season, he was unlucky. A few days before the changeover deadline, he was presented with the little Spaniard Álvaro Odriozola by his then sports director (now sports director) Hasan Salihamidžić. Odriozola was allowed to play for Bayern exactly 179 minutes. That wasn’t enough to make the loan a firm commitment. Well, that his successor Bouna Sarr is hardly doing better in Munich.
The fact that the Frenchman wants to leave again this summer after a disappointing season should not be a major problem for the record champions’ next coach. Because Nagelsmann, who will very likely move from Leipzig to Munich on July 1st for a world record sum of 20 to 25 million euros, will suddenly recognize previously hidden potential in the 29-year-old, which will make him an absolutely indispensable top performer on Säbener Straße , well, that’s not to be expected. Rather, the greatest German talent on the sidelines is likely to have a different agenda for how the FC Bayern team is changing.
How Flick shook the club
With his defense chief Dayot Upamecano, he has already filled a position (for a lot of money) that in recent months had become an allegory of the power struggle between Flick and Salihamidžić in Munich. With David Alaba and Jérôme Boateng, the two most important central defenders for the coach are leaving the club this summer. How much these decisions annoyed him, how much it all happened against his will, the 56-year-old had emphasized again and again. As a verbose arsonist, he ran through one media round after the other, trying in vain to gain more power in decisions on transfer issues. There was even talk of a veto.
Flick, the successful coach, did not only want to be the executive assistant of the bosses’ cadre fantasies. He wanted to (help) shape the squad himself. With that he would have started a revolution. Because such powerful coaches are not planned in Munich. It is very likely that Flick will leave for this reason too – the bosses have finally complied with his request for the early termination of the contract – is very likely. So far, the coach has not publicly justified his move to withdraw. Probably not towards the players either.
What he had made public, however, was his desire for approval. Not discussed. After the important Bundesliga victory at VfL Wolfsburg, he had surprised his superiors, who finally “disapproved” of his action after a long silence. Flick’s appearance had kicked off a huge board. With unpleasant effects. Several fans of the record champions had started a petition against the sports director. The initiative “pro Hansi Flick, Brazzo out” calls for the “immediate resignation” of Salihamidžić – and garnered plenty of votes for it. That there was also agitation, insults and threats against the 44-year-old and his family – madness! The club reacted vehemently, Flick took the side of his superior and the initiative distanced itself.
Salihamidžić is said to admire Nagelsmann
What she did not distance herself from: the desire for a new sports director. Because with Salihamidžić there will also be conflicts in the future, said initiative spokesman Michael Frohsz last in an interview with the sports information service, “regardless of which coach”. But also under Nagelsmann? Well, unlike Flick, he is at least the preferred candidate for the sports directorate. He was even an “admirer” of the coach, it was said last in the “Bild”. Weeks ago, he is said to have checked the 33-year-old’s availability for Munich. Flick is said to have displeased that. Also because an early farewell only looked like a dark horror vision. As “Bild” also reported, “Salihamidžić and Nagelsmann also work on the same wavelength”. Although the coach also has clear ideas, he is less stubborn than his predecessor.
It would probably quickly fall on his feet, too. Like Flick. Which, meanwhile, was already highly decorated with the world championship title (as assistant coach), as well as with the second triple in the club’s history (in Munich he became more and more research afterwards). Nagelsmann, on the other hand, has not yet won a major title. So far he only knows clubs that were more of a start-up (Hoffenheim and Leipzig) and not a large corporation (FC Bayern). He also doesn’t know any cemented power structures, no overpowering alpha animals in direct cooperation. Because neither TSG patron Dietmar Hopp was involved in the coach’s area of expertise, nor RB billionaire Dietrich Mateschitz. It’s different in Munich. The bosses like to stroll into the dressing room and through the interview zones after the game. They are always present for the trainer. And for the media.
The fact that Nagelsmann was drawn to Bayern was inevitable for both sides. By the summer of 2023 at the latest, when his contract in Leipzig and Flick’s contract in Munich had expired, this symbiosis would have been the most likely scenario on the coaching market. Nagelsmann feels too attracted to this club, which the native Upper Bavarian has raved about since childhood. The people of Munich, especially the old but powerful patriarch Uli Hoeneß, have been raving about the young coach for years. He was already a candidate in the follow-up discussion about Carlo Ancelotti in September 2017. At that time, however, he was not considered mature enough and experienced enough for FC Bayern. But now he has honed numerous talents into top players. Has developed an aggressive, dominant, offensive game idea. One that FC Bayern likes to have. Nagelsmann has also demonstrated outstanding tactical sophistication. Like Guardiola. From which he has copied a lot.
The fact that Bayern are ready for Nagelsmann to pay a world record fee to RB is an expression of maximum conviction. That they do not install a prominent interim solution like José Mourinho, that they do not rely on a placeholder like Erik ten Hag (Ajax Amsterdam), but strive for the absolute top solution (the other would have been Jürgen Klopp) is also one Lesson from the summer of 2018. When one completely overestimated one’s own power and attraction, but could no longer persuade “holy Jupp” Heynckes to continue (which he had already announced for months) and finally agreed on Niko Kovac from Frankfurt. More compromise than the silver bullet. That will now be different with Nagelsmann. Unlike with Flick, too. That was by no means the royal road that was immediately discovered. It was only through the mini, midi and maxi interim stations that he fought his way to the great solution.
By the way: Nagelsmann shouldn’t have too big transfer hopes for the summer. For Upamecano and him, the club has finally leaned very far over the counter despite the pandemic cuts. For Boateng, for Alaba and for Javi Martinez, who will probably also be leaving, there will be no money. And for Flick, who is considered the most promising candidate to succeed national coach Joachim Löw? Probably not either. Because it is and remains that way: “The DFB will not pay any transfer fees because it has never paid transfer fees and because, as a non-profit association, it is difficult to do so,” said Vice-President Rainer Koch in the focus of sports at Bayerischer Rundfunk and confirmed with that again the attitude of DFB President Fritz Keller and Director Oliver Bierhoff.
Well, maybe you can call Josep Guardiola again.
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