Although Niko Kovac was kicked out of FC Bayern in November 2019, the Croatian seems to only wish his ex-employer the best. There is hardly any other explanation for the fact that the coach of Borussia Dortmund is said to have advised the German record champions against one of his own protégés at BVB last summer.
Review: Almost exactly a year ago, FC Bayern intensively sought the services of Spanish national player Nico Williams, but after a tough poker game an agreement was not reached.
So the Bundesliga club turned around and looked for alternatives for the wing. One candidate is said to have been the then Dortmund player Jamie Gittens, who was considered a hot stock on the transfer market at the time.
As was now revealed in the “Bild” podcast “Bayern Insider”, the Munich management team around the powerful supervisory board members Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were skeptical about the Englishman. That’s why an employee was asked to contact BVB coach Niko Kovac to get his honest opinion about Gittens.
With a spicy ending: Kovac is said to have made it more than clear that he considers the offensive youngster to be “not professional enough” to assert himself at FC Bayern.
As a result, Säbener Strasse refrained from further efforts to find Gittens and instead decided to pursue Liverpool’s Luis Diaz, it is said. From today’s perspective, it was a lucky coincidence, the Colombian hit like a bomb.
BVB departure is a disaster for Gittens
Gittens left BVB anyway and the left winger moved back to his hometown to Chelsea FC for the equivalent of 56 million euros. However, he completely flopped there, collecting only one goal and five assists in 27 competitive games.
Gittens hasn’t played a game since the end of January; a persistent thigh injury kept him out of action for months. In the meantime it was even rumored that he could leave the Blues again despite his contract until 2032 (!).