It is going to be a quiet winter transfer window at Bayern Munich. The club chiefs are content with the squad they have assembled. They believe the return of Jamal Musiala, Hiroki Ito, and Alphonso Davies bolsters Vincent Kompany’s options for the second half of the season. The record Bundesliga champions will focus on getting top targets in the summer.
Bayern have instead decided to bolster Kompany’s coaching staff for the second half of the season. The Bavarian club confirmed on Friday that they have added Daniel Fradley to the coaching staff of Kompany. Fradley will be working as an assistant coach. He has previously worked with Pep Guardiola at Manchester City as Chief Analyst. Fradley also had a stint at New York City FC.
Kompany has worked with Fradley when he was the skipper of Manchester City. Fradley will join Die Roten with immediate effect and will be working with the squad from Saturday as players report back from winter break.
Bayern are delighted with the way Kompany and his coaches have fared over the last 18 months. There was a lot of scepticism in the German media and across Europe when Bayern replaced Thomas Tuchel with Kompany. The Belgian was early in his coaching career and had stints at Burnley and Club Brugge. However, Kompany managed to prove the doubters wrong by helping Die Roten win the Bundesliga title last season.
The Belgian coach has improved the team this season as they have suffered only one defeat across all competitions. Bayern had a record start to the campaign, winning 16 games in a row. The club chiefs rewarded Kompany’s work with a contract renewal. Bayern recently extended the contracts of his coaching staff. The Bavarian club will hope Fradley will also have the same impact as other coaches have made under the leadership of Kompany.
Challenging Ruckrunde awaits Kompany and Bayern
There is no doubt Bayern and Kompany got most of the things spot on in the first half of the season. However, they will be heavily judged on results in Ruckrunde as trophies are won during this part of the season.
Die Roten have a solid lead of nine points in the Bundesliga. They are unbeaten in the league. If Kompany’s men continue to show consistency in Germany, the DFB Pokal and Bundesliga title is theirs to lose.
The real test for the Belgian coach will be in the Champions League knockout stages. It will be interesting to see if Kompany has learned lessons from last season’s quarter-final elimination against Inter Milan. The former Manchester City defender needs to ensure that his team remains in prime shape when big Champions League games arrive in March and April.