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FC Bayern’s coaching search is on the home stretch: ÖFB team boss Ralf Rangnick is currently the big favorite.
Munich – Ralf Rangnick’s WhatsApp status contains a quote from Charlie Chaplin: “Go where your heart takes you. Life is a play without prior rehearsals.” The next act in the 65-year-old’s coaching life could actually take place at FC Bayern starting in the summer.
After tz-Information, the ÖFB team boss is now the favorite to succeed Thomas Tuchel after neither a collaboration with Leverkusen’s preferred candidate and master coach Xabi Alonso nor a return campaign by national coach Julian Nagelsmann worked out in Munich.
Who will be Bayern coach? Rangnick the clear favorite, De Zerbi alternative
In addition to Rangnick, Roberto De Zerbi from Premier League club Brighton & Hove Albion is also in the running. But the starting position currently seems clear: If Rangnick says yes to Bayern, he will take on Austria as Bayern coach after the European Championship. If everything goes according to plan, everything should be fixed this week with the new man on the sidelines.
“We want to do it as quickly as possible, but also as thoroughly as possible,” said sports director Max Eberl on Saturday in the ZDF sports studio. He hopes for a “timely” decision – and that the “finish straight” will be reached “soon”. In keeping with this statement, Rangnick was on Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund’s shadow list from the start, which was deliberately kept small.
Rangnick apparently ready to talk: meeting with Bayern bosses a few weeks ago
Rangnick himself seems willing to talk; there was said to have been a meeting between him, Eberl and Freund a few weeks ago. So there has been intensive contact for some time. Therefore, Rangnick’s statement at the beginning of April should not be overestimated.
At that time, Rangnick said at a meeting of the European Championship coaches: “I still have a contract until 2026 and our goal and our path will continue after the Euro.” Rangnick and Freund’s shared RB past could become Bayern’s coaching trump card. Both have an excellent relationship from their shared and, above all, successful times in Salzburg. Both worked together in Salzburg from 2012 to 2015 – Rangnick was sports director at the time and Freund was sports coordinator.
Rangnick as Bayern savior?
The management team on Säbener Strasse has already dealt more intensively with Rangnick. After all, the “football professor” had a reputation as a difficult character. The long-time Bundesliga coach (TSG Hoffenheim, Schalke 04, RB Leipzig) has now become milder with age and sometimes lets five be straight.
Tenor: With a good scouting team at your side, the collaboration can be successful. Especially since Rangnick has also given up his status as a control freak. For example, the football teacher took a liking to the English coaching model. This means: He no longer carries out every exercise in detail himself, but trusts his expert assistants in specific areas. Nevertheless, Rangnick is of course in charge and intervenes when he thinks it is right.
FC Bayern’s search for a coach: De Zerbi is also still on the list
If the deal with Rangnick fails, Eberl & Co. still have an iron in the fire with De Zerbi. However, the estimated transfer fee of 14 million euros is quite high. In addition, the Italian would bring his oversized coaching staff of eight people with him to the Isar – that would also involve enormous personnel costs.
Rangnick would also bring staff to Munich, but not on this scale. Interesting: Supervisory board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge in particular is considered a big supporter of Rangnick – unlike Julian Nagelsmann, whose comeback he was extremely critical of. Manuel Bonke and Philipp Kessler