3 Reasons Nagelsmann Was Fired

Two years ago, Bayern Munich signed Europe’s hottest coaching property. Aged 33, Julian Nagelsmann had five years of coaching experience in Germany’s Bundesliga. He saved Hoffenheim from relegation and led RB Leipzig into the semifinal of the Champions League. At both clubs, he was younger than some of his players.

Bayern bosses Herbert Hainer, Oliver Kahn and Hasan Salihamidzic paid $27 million dollars to release Nagelsmann from his RB Leipzig contract. It was – and remains – a record transfer fee for a soccer coach.

That summer of 2021, Nagelsmann, a Munich native, was all smiles as he put pen to paper on a 5-year contract. It ties him to Germany’s top club until 2026. He earns more than $8 million a year, by far Germany’s highest coaching salary.

Less than two years into his coaching reign, Bayern’s bosses are pulling the plug. According to multiple German media outlets, discussions with Thomas Tuchel to succeed Nagelsmann have been going on for weeks.

Tuchel already lives in Munich. He has coached Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, with whom he won the Champions League in 2021. Clearly, the 49-year-old is worthy of coaching Bayern.

But between the $27 million signing fee and the 4 years left on his contract, the Nagelsmann experiment will cost Bayern $60 million.

So why does Nagelsmann have to go? 3 Reasons for the shock dismissal.

No. 1: Bayern Lose Top Spot to Dortmund, Fear Trophyless Season

This winter, everything looked like business as usual in Germany’s top flight. The Bundesliga rested for two months and all eyes turned to the World Cup in Qatar. Bayern topped the league. Dortmund was in distant 6th place.

When the Bundesliga re-started in late January, Nagelsmann’s team was 9 points ahead of Dortmund, its fiercest domestic rival.

Now, a mere two months later, Dortmund has climbed past Bayern in the Bundesliga table. In 10 games, Bayern has given up its 9-point lead.

The two-week international break is an opportune moment for Bayern Munich’s board to make changes.

While Nagelsmann skied in Austria on a day off, Bayern bosses Herbert Hainer, Hasan Salihamidzic and Oliver Kahn applied their red pens to paper.

When the Bundesliga returns for matchday 26, the Bavarians host Dortmund at home. It is a brilliant opportunity to take points away from Dortmund and reclaim pole position.

Apparently Bayern’s bosses no longer trusted Nagelsmann to get the job done.

No. 2: Nagelsmann’s Public Feud With Bayern Captain Manuel Neuer

In January, verbal shots were exchanged in the media between Bayern Munich’s longstanding captain, Manuel Neuer (36) and Nagelsmann (35).

Neuer broke his leg in the winter break when he skied in his Bavarian hometown near the scenic Tegernsee lake. By all accounts, there was not nearly enough snow on the ground. Neuer also has a clause in his Bayern contract that forbids extreme sports.

Behind closed doors, Bayern’s bosses were livid. They protected their captain in the German media, sure. But with Neuer out for the rest of the season, trophies in three competitions were now at stake. Switzerland’s shot-stopper Yann Sommer was signed from Gladbach for $9 million to save the season.

In a January power move, Nagelsmann fired goalkeeping coach Toni Tapalovic, a close confidante of Neuer. Tapalovic had joined Bayern in 2011, at the same time as Neuer, at the request of the goalkeeper. Under Hansi Flick, he was even promoted to assistant coach. Tapalovic was best man at Neuer’s wedding.

Tapalovic’s dismissal surprised many Bayern players. He had been at Sabener Strasse for more than a decade, worked under six coaches, and won the Champions League twice.

“I felt like my heart was being ripped out. It was the most brutal thing in my career,” Neuer lamented in an interview with The Athletic.

A chasm opened between coach and goalkeeper. Nagelsmann refused to guarantee Neuer the captain’s armband after his return from injury. He chastised Neuer for speaking publicly, saying he acted selfishly.

No. 3: Nagelsmann’s Off-The-Pitch Antics: Tabloid Girlfriend, Fake Eyebrows

Last summer, BILD, a German tabloid, published Ibiza yacht photos of Nagelsmann and his new girlfriend, 30-year-old Lena Wurzenberger.

It was a BILD exclusive, but hardly a scoop: After all, Wurzenberger was employed by BILD as a Bayern Munich beat writer at the time.

A mere month earlier, in May 2022, she conducted an interview with Nagelsmann and wrote about his team for a living.

The fact that Nagelsmann’s partner is a tabloid writer who covered Bayern Munich for BILD (prior to the relationship announcement) sure raised eyebrows from the team locker room all the way to the corner offices.

Off the pitch, Nagelsmann often showed his young age. Bayern’s bosses and players alike have supposedly mocked the coach’s flashy fashion style.

That sounds trivial until you compare the 35-year-old to chic former Bayern managers like Pep Guardiola or Carlo Ancelotti, both of whom coached in the Allianz Arena in the past decade.

In 2018, years before Nagelsmann became Bayern coach, he sparked great media attention at Allianz Arena during a post-game press conference. Bayern’s 3-1 win over Hoffenheim was far overshadowed by the guest coach’s eyebrows.

“I have drooping eyelids and I would like to have bigger eyes,” Nagelsmann said as he sat on the Allianz Arena’s press podium next to Bayern’s then coach Niko Kovac.

“Women are also always allowed to dress up and so I thought that as a man you can do it too. I tried it and I hope it was reasonably successful. Permanent makeup, I think it’s called,” he added.

At “FC Hollywood,” as it is known in the German press, looks matter.