Ralf Rangnick reveals reasons behind not joining Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich had a difficult time finding the successor of Thomas Tuchel. After announcing the decision to part ways with Thomas Tuchel in February, Bayern struggled to get deals over the line for their top targets.
Xabi Alonso and Julian Nagelsmann were Bayern’s top two candidates to replace Tuchel. However, both coaches decided to stay in their current roles instead of sealing a move to Munich. After facing rejections from Alonso and Nagelsmann, Bayern turned their attention to Austria’s head coach Ralf Rangnick.
The negotiations with Rangnick were going smoothly for several days at the end of April. However, the experienced German coach had a change of heart and decided to reject a move to Munich just when negotiations were reaching a conclusion.
Rangnick and the Austrian Football Federation released a statement on May 2 to confirm the German coach’s desire to keep working on the project despite interest from Bayern. While talking to Kicker (via iMiaSanMia) over the weekend, Rangnick managed to shed more light on his difficult decision to not go back into the club management with Bayern.
"It was one of the most difficult professional decisions I had to make so far in my career. The idea of being a coach of both Austria and Bayern for two and a half months was the main reason. If I had agreed on May 1st, I wouldn't have been FC Bayern coach from July 15th, but from May 1st. And then it became clear to me that this couldn't be done without something suffering as a result. We invested two years here in Austria to get to where we are now. I didn't want to jeopardize that."
- Ralf Rangnick
After facing rejection from Rangnick, Bayern tried to sign Oliver Glasner from Crystal Palace. However, the Premier League club had no plans to entertain offers for the German coach. Glasner had joined Palace midway through the last season.
There were brief discussions about bringing Hansi Flick back to Bayern, but those reports eventually got silenced. The record Bundesliga champions tried to keep Tuchel for one more season, but both parties couldn’t agree on terms for a U-turn on the decision made in February.
After several disappointments, Bayern went all in for Burnley’s Vincent Kompany. The Belgian coach signed a three-year deal with Die Roten at the start of June. The Bavarian club paid a compensation fee worth more than €10 million to sign Kompany. Bayern believe Kompany can give them more stability in the coaching position and help them win games by playing an attractive style of football.
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Thomas Tuchel set to take a break from coaching
Thomas Tuchel will not return to football management immediately after leaving Bayern. The German coach held talks with Manchester United last week. However, the Premier League will not offer him the position if they sack Erik Ten Hag in the coming days. Tuchel will wait for the right opportunity to get back into coaching. The German coach reportedly wants a job in the Premier League after enjoying a successful stint at Chelsea.