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Thomas Tuchel has reaffirmed his commitment to Bayern Munich for the remainder of the season amid reports linking the German with managerial roles at Barcelona and Manchester United.
Earlier this week, the Bundesliga champions announced that Tuchel would be leaving the Allianz Arena in the summer, with Bayern having sustained three crucial losses in a row in recent weeks.
The club are second in the table, eleven points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, who dispatched Bayern with ease two weekends ago in a dominant 3-0 win.
They then lost 1-0 to Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League last sixteen tie, having already departed the DFB-Pokal (German cup) earlier in the season, at the hands of a Saarbrücken – a third-division side. Bayern also lost the DFL Supercup at the start of the year, falling to a 3-0 defeat to RB Leipzig.
In short, it’s been an unusually bad season for a club accustomed to dominating at the domestic and continental levels.
In response, Bayern are implementing a “sporting realignment” throughout the club, with a number of changes occurring at the executive level and an overhaul of the squad planned for the summer. As part of this process, the manager will also change.
Speaking in a press conference on Friday, Tuchel was asked about his future following the announcement.
The coach has been linked with the managerial role at Old Trafford, with reports from Germany indicating he has always dreamed of coaching United, and would be open to a return to England.
Tuchel was previously the manager at Chelsea, helping the London club to an unlikely Champions League triumph in 2021. He departed Stamford Bridge in September 2022, following a clash with Todd Boehly – the club’s American owner.
The state of Chelsea as a team since this point has largely vindicated Tuchel’s decision, with swathes of Chelsea fans considering his dismissal to be a grave mistake, given the quality of his subsequent successors.
Erik ten Hag has faced his own struggles this season at the helm at Old Trafford. An unprecedented injury crisis has plagued his squad, while an attempt to instil a new style of play, predicated upon dominating transitions, has faced teething issues, to put it mildly.
The result?
United crashed out of the Champions League and Carabao Cup in spectacularly dismal fashion earlier in the year, while the club are 6th in the Premier League table, with a goal difference of just 1. The FA Cup offers the last chance of success this year.
It has left Ten Hag’s future precarious ahead of a major summer of change at Old Trafford.
On the question of his own future, Tuchel replied: “Nothing’s going to happen with me before the end of the season. I have a very high professional expectation of myself and that’s completely dedicated to Bayern Munich until the end of the season.”
While Tuchel’s words do not reveal his intentions come the summer, the fact he also refused to rule anything out will do little to quell the rumour mill linking him to Ten Hag’s role.
Champions League race in the Premier League could decide if there’s even a role to be had in the summer. Ball’s in Ten Hag’s court now.
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