The Reason Why Bayern Sacked Nagelsmann and Hired Tuchel
Has the latest Bundesliga defeat affected the Bayernns’ bosses so much? Are there any other reasons for the sacking of Nagelsmann and appointment of Tuchel? Let's try to figure this out! We quickly gathered all the topic-related info and are ready to share it with you!
Reasons for Nagelsmann's dismissal
Back on March 21, the Bayern president, Herbert Hainer, praised Nagelsmann in an interview with Kicker and talked about a 5-year contract with the coach. Here's what he had to say in the context of PSG’s knockout from the Champions League:
"I think Julian has come a long way. He is a top coach who proved against Paris that he is tactically and strategically excellent at the highest European level. We are planning for the long term with him, we have documented this with a five-year contract, because we want to build something with him. You can see clear progress in these one and a half years. Julian is doing very well. The discussion about his coaching came from outside, we didn't start it," Hainer concluded.
On March 21! His words of approval spread throughout the world media on March 21, but less than two days later, the Munich board gathered in the club office and seriously considered TO SACK NAGELSMANN!
What happened? Now this is a key question we’re looking to find answers for. Let's think what may have caused such sharp mood changes in the Munich super club.
The first reason is the loss of trust between the manager and the dressing room: during the two seasons Nagelsmann spent with the club, reports about the coach’s rather strained relationship with his players were repeatedly leaked to the media. In particular, according to Bild, they were frankly annoyed by the arrogance Julian showed from time to time, not only by shrugging off his responsibility for unsuccessful games, but also criticizing those who did not follow the game plan.
Of course, the reasons related to recent results should not be omitted in this case either: the fact remains the fact - after the break for the 2022 World Cup, Bayern allowed Borussia Dortmund to overhaul a nine-point gap and eventually to take the lead according to the results of Bundesliga Matchweek 25. Needless to say, such news was not welcomed by the club management. After the mentioned defeat against Leverkusen, the club’s sporting director, Hasan Salihamidžić, stated the following: "That's not what Bayern means. So little drive, mentality, duel, assertiveness - I've rarely experienced that," theoretically speaking, this defeat was the last straw that broke the camel’s back...
Nagelsmann’s relationship with Salihamidzic makes the third possible reason. It’s no secret for anyone in the German media that the coach and Bayern’s office general manager haven’t had the best relationship lately. Pure paradox here, as it was the latter who brought Nagelsmann to the club, costing Bayern 25 million euros - it was for the same price that Julian's contract was bought out from RB Leipzig. Nagelsmann had disputes with Salihamidzic regarding the transfer policy - the manager believed that the team's sporting department wouldn’t listen to his requests. Besides, the Bayern Munich fan community assumes that Salihamidzic specifically held talks with Tuchel in order to provoke Nagelsmann to resign - yep, their relationship has become that bad... Do you believe in this detail or not?...
Another theory to consider is the one, which features a certain woman. "Cherchez la femme", as they say in France... Let us explain:
Before Bayern's fateful clash against Bayer, the newspaper Bild published exclusive images of Bayern's tactics for the tie against Bohum on February 11: the positional attack formation, the goal kick setups, and movements while pressing were revealed to the public [1, 2, 3]
"I’m annoyed. The person who leaks something like that harms every single player, that’s not in the spirit of the matter. Moles are protected species, so the search is very, very complicated. It wasn’t a form of training that was published, it was a match plan against Bochum. This isn’t the basics, so we can’t be deciphered through that. I’m not worried about it," Nagelsmann said at the time.
The most ambiguous thing about the whole story is that Julian is actually dating a Bild journalist, the same tabloid that made matters worse. The girl's name is Lena Wurzenberger; before meeting Julian, she wrote articles about, you’ve guessed it, Bayern Munich. When the public learned about the connection between the journalist and the coach, Lena was immediately released from news coverage about the German champions. The club found out about the relationship between the two earlier than Bild - Julian himself told the situation, not wanting to advertise his private life.
Perhaps the leak of tactics became the key reason for distrust of Nagelsmann?.. This one is supported by some noteworthy facts at least.