Julian Nagelsmann didn’t even finish his second season at Bayern Munich, even though he has a contract with the Bavarians until 2026. The management decided that the team’s performances were not what they had imagined. Consistency is very important at a club like Bayern and there is no 35-year-old coach at this level yet! Which team would be ideal for a young coach now?
Rapid rise at Hoffenheim
At the beginning of February 2016, Nagelsmann was leading the U19 in Hoffenheim, but the A-team ran into problems, so the management tried the talented coach, who was forced to end his playing career in 2008 due to injury.
Hoffenheim had practically nothing to lose at that time, but Nagelsmann was such a revival for the team that they won 7 league games out of 14, thanks to which they escaped relegation to the second division. And then he pushed this team to the Top 4.
Yes, TSG mowed down one opponent after another in the 2016/17 season, drawing 1-1 with Bayern and beating them 1-0 at home in the spring. In the end it was the 4th place. Even in the next league season, Hoffenheim confirmed that the previous position was not just a coincidence and finished in 3rd place.
However, in qualifying for the Champions League at the beginning of the season, he ran into Liverpool, who was an insurmountable problem for him, and Nagelsmann’s boys headed to the Europa League, where they finished in the group.
The likeable German coach had his last season on the Hoffenheim bench ahead of him, in which he led his team to 9th place. In the Champions League, TSG finished last in the group, falling short of the pace of Manchester City, Shakhtar and Lyon.
It has been discussed for a long time where Nagelsmann will go. Bayern Munich was also in the game. However, these emotions were tamed by Jupp Heynckes, who aptly noted that in Hoffenheim a young coach can make mistakes, but in Bayern there is no room for it and it is punished uncompromisingly, which he learned a few days ago.
Successes at RB Leipzig
The Leipzig team was undoubtedly a great move for Nagelsmann. Full of young talent, plus participation in the Champions League. The perfect environment for the next step. And the young German coach took his chance with full vigour, leading RB Leipzig to third place in the Bundesliga and to the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they fell short of PSG.
In the next season, Leipzig was even better. In the Bundesliga, they finished second behind the again sovereign Bayern, and in the Champions League, in a group with PSG, Manchester United and Basaksehir, they advanced to the playoffs, where they once again encountered the then uncompromising Liverpool.
It was clear to everyone that RB Leipzig was already small for Nagelsmann and he needed to move on. That was the time when the Bavarian giant came into his own.
An impatient Bayern Munich
Nagelsmann dominated the Bundesliga quite clearly in his first season at Bayern, but burned out in the second round of the DFB-Pokal, in which he was sent off by Mönchengladbach 5-0 and from the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Villarreal. It was already very difficult for the management of the Munich unit to swallow.
This season, however, Nagelsmann’s Bayern was virtually unstoppable, having only lost to Augsburg by the end of last year and progressing in a group with Barcelona, Inter and Viktoria Plzeň after winning all 6 matches.
Even in the new year, he continued his figure skating, at least in the Champions League, where he won twice over PSG. However, the Bavarian team started the new year with three league draws 1:1 (RB Leipzig, Cologne and Frankfurt), followed by a loss against Mönchengladbach after two wins and a defeat against Leverkusen after another three wins.
Thanks to this, Borussia Dortmund, who were playing in great form, got one point ahead of Bayern in the league table, and the management couldn’t take it anymore and decided to fire the still very young coach.
Incomprehensible for some, but unacceptable for the Bayern management…
A new club for Nagelsmann’s development?
In my opinion, the German coach needs perhaps a top league rather than a top club. In this direction, the Premier League could be really beneficial for him, where many excellent coaches are now working and the best players in the world are increasingly heading to England.
This was clearly seen in the January transfer window, when only Chelsea spent virtually the same amount as all the other top 4 leagues in Europe.
The native of Landsberg am Lech would gain tremendous experience if he could be compared match after match with the best. And there are practically two clubs in the game that could be suitable for Nagelsmann.
Paradoxically, it could happen that he will head to the previous workplace of Thomas Tuchel, who replaced him in Munich. Graham Potter is not doing well at Chelsea and the English media have been speculating about his departure since some Friday.
If the Blues do not get up and start collecting points regularly, which they have not been able to do at all recently, it can be assumed that the management will be forced to fire the English coach even before he completes one full season at Stamford Bridge.
It is Chelsea, in my opinion, that is the best place for Nagelsmann when it is a new team full of great talents. Exactly what the German coach can work with, which he proved in the Bundesliga in Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig.
Another option could be Tottenham, where Antonio Conte has been dealing with big problems for some time now. However, Spurs do not exactly have an ideal team that would suit Nagelsmann, and he would probably be waiting for big changes. But in the Premier League, money is…
However, according to the latest news from the English servers, this destination is currently the most likely.
Another possibility could be PSG, which is definitely not enthusiastic about Christopher Galtier, who had to bow down just before Nagelsmann’s Bayern.
However, in my opinion, it would be a step backwards for a young coach if he was bored on the bench for most of the season and only watched the Champions League matches, where the Parisian team fails to meet the expectations of the owners.
The Premier League is therefore a very interesting destination where Nagelsmann could compete with Guardiola, Klopp or the “young” English coach Howe (45 years old).
Source: Transfer market
