The feeling is still rather fresh. Vincent Kompany has been officially announced as the new manager of Bayern Munich, breaking out of his contract with Burnley and replacing Thomas Tuchel. He signed a three-year deal that will keep him at the helm in Munich through June 2027, marking the start of the third European top flight club he has managed after RSC Anderlecht in Belgium and Burnley in both the Premier League and EFL Championship.
Despite not nearly as much top flight experience as either Julian Nagelsmann or Hansi Flick, Kompany is reportedly set to earn roughly €7-9 million per Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg, more than the pair of previous Bayern managers. It is also estimated that is roughly the same range Tuchel was getting paid per year in his short tenure as the club’s manager.
Regardless of track records, lack of experience, or what outsiders might feel about Kompany’s appointment as Tuchel’s replacement at Bayern, the former Manchester City and Belgian national team defender is not too bothered by all of the external presser. He has already had his first official press conference since being unveiled as the new manager, and he said he is just looking forward to getting the best out of everyone in the squad for the upcoming season.
“My main goal is to write the next page. Pressure, no pressure, it’s not something in my thinking. I’m here to work with players and staff. If they work hard, if they do everything every single day – then we have a good chance to be a top team again. Sometimes you know about big players when you lose. When you lose, that’s when the big players show. I see this as the best time to rise up and take this as a challenge,” Kompany explained, drawing both on his experience from having been relegated with Burnley just before his arrival in Munich and Bayern having their first season without a trophy since 2012 (via @iMiaSanMia).
He has incredibly big shoes to fill at Bayern, but only time will tell if Bayern’s front office and board made the right decision in going with Kompany. They had a hard time finding candidates after it was announced that Tuchel would be leaving, so much to the point that the club did briefly go through a process of trying to convince him to stay through next season, but Tuchel’s mind was already made up.
Looking for more thoughts on Bayern Munich’s transfer strategy for the summer, including which players we would not mind seeing brought in? What about some ideas on whether or not Bayern Munich is set up to play a 4-4-2? Want even more? Well, we also have takes on Joshua Kimmich’s future in Bavaria, the German national team’s potential cut down, and Julian Nagelsmann’s possible mistake with Germany. Sound good? Then we have you covered with our Bavarian Podcast Works — Weekend Warm-up Show, which is available on Spotify or below: