FC Bayern is deep in crisis. There will be a change in the summer, and coach Thomas Tuchel will also have to leave. There are several successor candidates, but one is the favorite.
Three defeats in a row were too much: after the 3-0 defeat against Leverkusen, the 1-0 defeat in the Champions League first leg against Lazio and the embarrassing 3-2 league defeat against Bochum, Thomas Tuchel has to leave his job as Bayern -Trainers vacate. Not immediately, however.
As the German record champions announced on Wednesday, the coach and club will not part ways until the summer. By then, Tuchel should have the chance to avert the threat of the first titleless season in twelve years. Only then will the big change come. This will probably also be headed by Max Eberl, who, according to media reports, will start as Bayern’s new sports director in March.
The first question he will now have to ask himself: Who should coach the new Bayern team? The new coach and his playing style will probably have a significant influence on the composition of the new squad. Apparently there is already a top favorite for the position. As the TV channel Sky reports, the Bayern bosses should coach Leverkusen Xabi Alonso as their preferred solution. But there are numerous other candidates.
It comes as no surprise that Alonso is considered the clear favorite to succeed Tuchel. After all, it is the Spaniard who, with Leverkusen, has the best chance of taking the championship trophy away from Munich for the first time in eleven years this season. It’s not just since the 3-0 defeat in Leverkusen that people have been looking with envy at the “Werkself”, where Alonso has calmly and with rousing enthusiasm formed a top team that even won the treble of the championship, the DFB Cup and Europe this season League can win.
The Spaniard would undoubtedly have the stature for Bayern and was already active as a player in Munich. Nevertheless, it will not be easy to guide him to the Isar. Alonso still has a contract with the Werkself until 2026. He is also considered a serious candidate at his other former club Liverpool FC, where, as is well known Jürgen Klopp stops in summer.
Speaking of which: The ex-Dortmund player has announced that he wants to take a sabbatical year and is therefore not available for a coaching job in Munich or elsewhere.
Flick spoke out with Hoeneß
Then there is that Hansi Flick, Tuchel’s predecessor in Munich. According to a report by “Sport Bild”, Bayern officials who have not been named can imagine bringing back the triple coach from 2020. There had previously been a clarifying conversation with club patriarch Uli Hoeneß, with whom Flick had been at odds since his end on the Isar. So the way would be paved. Flick has been without a job since he left his position as national coach in September 2023.
He seems like an obvious option due to his extremely successful Bayern past. Especially since there were doubts as to whether Flick wanted to act as an interim solution if Tuchel was fired during the course of the season. This option now seems off the table and Flick could take over permanently again. Something both sides would like? In any case, it is not the only option.
From Jose Mourinho You could read in the tabloids that he was learning German diligently. Because he could imagine coaching Bayern and has been interested in doing so for a long time. The charismatic Portuguese, who was recently fired from AS Roma, undoubtedly has experience of working at top clubs like no other. The only question is whether the club bosses would get involved with such a special character like him.
An alternative to the moody Mourinho would be Jogi Löw. Germany’s world champion coach has been without a job since leaving the DFB in the summer of 2021 and is therefore immediately available. He had emphasized in the past that he could well imagine coaching a club team again.