Julian Nagelsmann is out of Bayern Munich. In one of the most surprising moves in recent years, the German club just sacked a coach who had won every game at the 2022-2023 Champions League (8 of 8) and had a lot of chances to claim the Bundesliga sitting one point behind leaders, Borussia Dortmund.
Furthermore, a few days ago, Julian Nagelsmann led Bayern Munich in dominant performances to eliminate PSG in the Round of 16 at the Champions League facing stars like Lionel Messi and Kylian Mbappe. They were, and still are, the favorites to win it all in Europe.
However, Thomas Tuchel is the new man in charge at Bayern Munich. This Saturday, in a long-awaited press conference, the board of directors finally revealed why Julian Nagelsmann is out. The reasons are very surprising.
Bayern Munich explain the reasons why Julian Nagelsmann is out
Thomas Tuchel was officially introduced as new coach of Bayern Munich with a contract valid until June of 2025. In a span of less than 24 hours, since the rumors started to swirl on social media, Julian Nagelsmann was out and his replacement was ready to take over duties.
According to Bayern's CEO, Oliver Kahn, Nagelsmann's exit had nothing to do with his claims that someone inside the club was leaking information to the press. On the contrary, the decision was merely based on results and performances by the team in different competitions.
"We have one of the best squads in Europe, but the continuity was not getting any better. We can't be satisfied with performance and results this year. If you look at everything, we've only won 5 out of 10 games in the Bundesliga. That's not our ambition. As part of the whole process, it was a priority to speak to Nagelsmann first and let him know our decision. We did that yesterday. It was a very open conversation. Of course there are nicer things in life. Julian was very open."
Hasan Salihamidžić, the sporting director of Bayern Munich, also gave his arguments to explain why they fired Julian Nagelsmann and signed Thomas Tuchel. "We believed in Julian Nagelsmann until 11 p.m. on Sunday. We believed, in between we hoped, but when you're no longer convinced, you have to react. Luckily, there was such a top option on the market (Tuchel). Things went very quickly."
As it happened with Kahn, Salihamidžić admitted Bayern's results weren't the ones expected in a crucial stage of the season. "In March of last year we had these inconsistent performances, then again in September and most recently we only won 5 out of 10 Bundesliga games. When performance curve is pointing downwards, you have to react. It wasn't an easy decision."
