Julian Nagelsmann departs FC Bayern Munich – Thomas Tuchel stands as a potential replacement.

The reports of his sudden dismissal from Bayern Munich made the rounds very quickly on Thursday evening, but Julian Nagelsmann was apparently completely taken by surprise.

“No,” the 35-year-old told the “kicker” that he “doesn’t know yet” that he should be replaced by Thomas Tuchel at the record champions. The “Bild” newspaper and the “kicker”, on the other hand, already reported that the coach’s departure was a done deal – and that the former Dortmund player Tuchel was ready to succeed him.

According to “kicker”, there has already been contact between Bayern and Tuchel in the past few days. The 49-year-old has been unemployed since his dismissal from Chelsea in September 2022 – in the summer of 2021 he won the Champions League with the Londoners.

Nagelsmann came to Munich that summer, and the club transferred 25 million euros to RB Leipzig. And this season at the latest, one could also dream of the title in the premier class, Nagelsmann’s team has won all of its eight games on the international stage so far. In the league, however, Bayern are weak.

Bavaria’s “long-term project” has already failed

Nevertheless, nothing had indicated a separation. Sports director Hasan Salihamidzic recently spoke of a “long-term project” with Nagelsmann, and CEO Oliver Kahn and President Herbert Hainer repeatedly defended the coach.

But the performances in the league have been too unstable recently – and with Tuchel there is a proven expert on the market. There had already been contact between Bayern and the coach in the past.

In Leverkusen, Salihamidzic was downright annoyed that he “didn’t see what Bayern Munich means” from the players, he said. His list of shortcomings was correspondingly long: “I’ve rarely experienced so little drive, so little mentality, so little duel, so little assertiveness.”

Bavaria in constant ups and downs

For Nagelsmann it was “only” enough for the championship title in his first year in Munich, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League there was the surprising end against underdog FC Villarreal, in the DFB Cup a bitter 0: 5 in the second round at Borussia Mönchengladbach.