New Bayern Munich coach – What do we know about Vincent Kompany?

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Deal imminent 

Bayern Munich are finally set to appoint a new head coach. After Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralf Rangnick, and Thomas Tuchel all turned down the opportunity to coach Germany’s biggest club, Bayern are in the final stages of agreeing a deal with Burnley manager Vincent Kompany. While personal terms on an agreement are already in place, Bayern still must negotiate a deal with Burnley. The relegated Premier League club is expected ask a significant fee in the region of €20m but ultimately will not stand in the way of Kompany become the next Bayern coach. Indeed, sources indicate that a deal is close to be completed.

Either way, the appointment of the 38-year-old is a significant surprise. “I do think the large perception from the UK, and even from Burnley fans will be shocked when it comes to Kompany’s pending appointment to German giants Bayern Munich after being relegated from the Premier League,” Transfermarkt UK Content Manager Ben Littlemore said. But perhaps it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise after all? After all, following Bayern’s defeat to Stuttgart on matchday 32, director of sport Max Eberl hinted that the next manager could be an out of the box appointment. “Sometimes doors open, that you didn’t expect would open at all,” Eberl said. It was a hint that the next appointment wouldn’t be a head coach on anyone’s radar and if Eberl wanted to surprise the media, he certainly succeeded.

Indeed, there are some good arguments for and against the appointment of Kompany as the next Bayern boss. First the ugly, there is no denying it, Bayern will appoint a head coach, who failed to keep his club in the Premier League. “Burnley were fairly reliant on loan players and have looked out of their depth in the Premier League this season,” Littlemore said. “At the start of the campaign, Kompany kept saying ‘it will take time’ to see the best of Burnley as they adapt to the English top-flight, but that adaptation never really came.” Ultimately, Burnley collected just 24 points in 38 Premier League games, finishing the campaign second from bottom. That fact alone, makes Kompany an incredible unlikely appointment, the equivalent of Bayern Munich appointing a head coach from relegated Bundesliga sides Köln or Darmstadt.

Vincent Kompany: Burnley and Anderlecht episodes show the good and the ugly

There are, however, two factors that speak in Kompany’s favour. First, there is the unbelievable 2022/23 Championship campaign that saw Burnley promoted to the Premier League. “In the 2022/23 season the Belgian’s Burnley side stormed the Championship, getting to 101 points and playing superb free-flowing attacking football,” Littlemore said. Then there is his time at Anderlecht. It was there that Bayern Munich scouts, who were on location to scout loanee Joshua Zirkzee, first noticed Kompany’s potential.

On the surface, that appears odd, because it wasn’t like the Anderlecht-Kompany marriage was a huge success. Kompany averaged just 1.7 points per game at Belgium’s most successful club. But as Area Manager Belgium Bart Tamsyn points out, the lack of success has very little to do with Kompany but more with the reality that Anderlecht faced as a club in severe financial distress. “Anderlecht were not ready for Kompany,” Tamsyn said. “More than once, he had to fall back on youngsters who were not ready, due to financial problems. For instance, Anderlecht regularly had to wait until the last moment of the transfer period to bring in players cheaper, but at that point the Belgian league is already about five matchdays underway and Kompany still had to fit in the new players at that point. At the end some said that Kompany had got enough changes, other said Anderlecht should keep a trust in him and do more so he could implement his ideas and vision.”

The episodes at Anderlecht and Burnley tell an interesting story about Kompany. “Anderlecht did not have the resources or infrastructure to implement all of Kompany’s ideas, nor did the squad turn out to be of that quality to play the game Kompany had in mind,” Tamsyn said. At Burnley, Kompany initially oversaw a club with significant resources compared to other teams in the Championship and did well. It was only when he moved up a level to the Premier League and had to operate with relatively small resources compared to the competition that he started to struggle.

Vincent Kompany: Pep Guardiola paved the way to Bayern Munich appointment

“Kompany learned a huge amount at Manchester City and Pep Guardiola,” Tamsyn said. Indeed, the bosses at the Säbener Straße spoke to both Guardiola, who coached Kompany at Man City, and René Marić, who was recently appointed to team lead coaching development and playing philosophy at Bayern. Maric attended coaching courses with Kompany and is said to have been really impressed by the Belgian.

With that in mind, what style of football does Kompany play? “Burnley continued to primarily attempt to split the centre-backs and play out from the back, with passes to midfielders under pressure, but they repeatedly got caught out and conceded from failing to apply this style of play successfully,” Littlemore said. “Perhaps his persistence to play a style of football could be seen as attractive to Bayern. Another key attraction point may be Kompany’s links to Pep Guardiola, having worked closely with him at Manchester City during the twilight of his career.”

The links to Guardiola may have ultimately led to Bayern appointing Kompany. To this day, the Bayern bosses dream of a return to the Spaniard. That dream, however, remains incredible unlikely. With that in mind, director of sport has now gone off the drawing board trying to find the next Guardiola and landed at Kompany. Whether it will work remains to be seen, however. As Bayern have clearly more resources on every domain, it could work with Kompany,” Tamsyn said. “But the outside pressure there will be a big test for him as a coach because now financial limitations to implement his vision cannot be an excuse anymore.”