By Jamie Spencer
Prior to Julian Nagelsmann signing a new contract to remain Germany head coach until after the 2026 World Cup, his agent had hinted that talks were taking place with former club Bayern Munich in addititon to a handful of other teams.
The former Bayern boss, who was surprisingly sacked by the Bavarians just 13 months ago, initially had a contract with the DFB until the end of Euro 2024 on home soil this summer. But an expected return to club football, having made his name as a manager before his 30th birthday, hasn't happened.
Representing Nagelsmann, Volker Struth stated on German podcast Spielmacher that a decision on the 36-year-old's future was likely to be made iimminently, which turned out to be case when the DFB then confirmed the contract extension on Friday morning.
"It will be decided soon, in the next five, six or seven days. It would be complete nonsense to say that we are not talking to interested parties," Struth explained earlier in the week.
"Without saying who the interested parties are, I can only say that it is not just Bayern Munich. That is normal. It is my job and it would be a bit of a joke in the media to say we are not in talks. Of course we are talking now," he clarified.
Bayern are on the hunt for a new boss after already confirming that Thomas Tuchel, who replaced Nagelsmann, will be leaving the club this summer. They were eyeing a treble when he was dismissed but ended up scraping only the Bundesliga title and have gone backwards domestically in 2023/24.
Nagelsmann was a name being discussed internally at Liverpool, with the club yet to decide on a successor to Jurgen Klopp. The shortlisting process has been data-led, leaving doubts over Nagelsmann due to the need to prove himself in terms of character rather than coaching alone. Concerns over his maturity and a swagger bordering on arrogance previously led to issues at Bayern and a reluctance to change frustrated some players.
Chelsea didn't feel Nagelsmann had the right personality for them prior to appointing Mauricio Pochettino last summer, while Tottenham Hotspur didn't take initial interest in the German beyond the due diligence stage before formally pursuing Ange Postecoglou instead.
Ruben Amorim has scored particularly highly as part of Liverpool's search, while Roberto De Zerbi remains of interest. Nagelsmann was not first in line to get the job. Prior to recommitting to Germany, he was also linked with Barcelona but was considered an outsider.
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This article was originally published on 90min.com as What Julian Nagelsmann’s agent said about prospect of joining Bayern Munich.
