After going through various speculations, plus rejection from candidate to candidate, Bayern Munich finally appointed Vincent Kompany as the team’s new coach for the 2024-2025 season. This Belgian coach is under contract for 3 years, after being brought in from Burnley.
If you look at his profile as a coach, this is actually an unusual decision. Despite the attacking football philosophy he adheres to, Kompany still lacks experience and achievements as a coach. Bayern is also not a team that dares to recruit a young coach with this profile.
Indeed, before Kompany, the Bavarians had recruited Julian Nagelsmann in 2021. However, this coach who was born in 1987 arrived after leading Hoffenheim to appear in the Champions League, and took RB Leipzig through to the semifinals of the Champions League and the final of the DFB Pokal.
In other words, Nagelsmann already has good experience and capabilities, having brought his team to the top of the Bundesliga, plus the final round of European club competitions and domestic cups. This is what Kompany has not had, in his coaching career.
Even though he was able to bring The Clarets promotion to the highest caste of the Premier League, as champions of the Championship Division for the 2022-2023 season, by achieving 101 points, Kompany was immediately relegated in the 2023-2024 season, after only achieving 24 points.
Clearly, by the coach’s standards, the former Manchester City captain is still in the stage of building consistency in top level competition. So, his move to Bayern was a very big leap.
Before tasting the rigors of the Premier League, his only coaching experience was at Anderlecht (Belgium) between 2019-2022. Starting his coaching career as a player-coach at his youth club, Kompany was able to take the Belgian capital club to the Belgian Cup final, third place in the domestic league, and the final round of Europa Conference League Qualification.
Actually, this is not a bad start, because the most successful club in the Belgian League (34 times champion) has indeed been in a period of lack of performance since 2017. The problem is, before he had time to build further achievements, the opportunity to coach Burnley suddenly came and he grabbed it.
Indeed, there is interesting potential, because his coaching career started directly at senior team level when he was 33 years old. So, he is already used to coaching the senior team.
Plus, the former Belgian national team captain was coached by Pep Guardiola at Manchester City between 2016-2019. Experience as a “student” of one of the top coaches has proven to be a valuable asset in starting a coaching career.
Because of this, Bayern Munich dared to pay compensation of 12 million euros to bring him in. This nominal amount makes sense, because Kompany’s contract at Burnley is still valid until 2028.
The German Bundesliga itself is not a foreign place for Kompany. Before becoming captain and achieving success at Manchester City, he played in the Bundesliga and won an Intertoto Cup trophy (equivalent to the UEFA Europa Conference League) with Hamburg SV, between 2006-2008.
However, his arrival as coach also showed how panicked Bayern Munich’s management was. Understandably, rejection after rejection from a number of top coaches has left them out of options, and if a new coach doesn’t arrive before the start of June, the team’s pre-season plans and preparations could be thrown into disarray.
On the other hand, Die Roten management also looks like they are trying to “copy paste” a coach recruitment strategy, like what Bayer Leverkusen did when they brought in Xabi Alonso.
Indeed, Bayer Leverkusen’s strategy was a great success, because Alonso was able to turn a team with relatively ordinary material (when he arrived) into a team that won the German Bundesliga and DFB Pokal titles.
But, before that, the coach had started the process in the previous season, by bringing the team through to the semifinals of the Europa League and lifting the team’s position, from the bottom of the table to 6th place.
Die Werkself itself is also not a typical team that has a target of winning every season. So Alonso and the players can freely develop and make a splash in Germany.
Kompany does not necessarily have this freedom at the Allianz Arena, because of the club’s tradition and reputation as a champion team in Germany.
This “copy paste” strategy is also quite risky. In the past decade, this has happened to a number of European clubs, when they tried to employ young coaches with little experience at the top level (some of whom were former famous players) in the hope of repeating the success story of Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona.
However, many clubs ultimately fail miserably. AS Roma only had Luis Enrique for a short time, as did AC Milan with Clarence Seedorf. There are also those who achieved achievements in domestic competitions, but disappeared afterwards, as in the case of Phillip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven) and Frank De Boer (Ajax Amsterdam).
A big successful case actually came along from coaches who were initially less in the spotlight, such as in the case of Diego Simeone, who achieved long-lasting achievements at Atletico Madrid. Likewise with Zinedine Zidane in his first period with Real Madrid (2016-2016) who started his duties when El Real’s performance was unstable.
In the last decade, Andrea Pirlo (Juventus) and Xavi Hernandez (Barcelona) were both removed because they were unable to meet the high expectations of club management. Even though they were able to win the domestic title, these two midfield maestros were considered failures by the club management.
With competitive dynamics and patience levels as thin as tissue in the current era, Bayern Munich’s decision to bring in Kompany is a matter of speculation. FC Hollywood is clearly not Arsenal who is very patient with Mikel Arteta.
If they (this time) have a little patience, the former Belgian national team mainstay defender could become Xabi Alonso’s opponent at Bayer Leverkusen. Of course, he was given the freedom to implement his ideas, which in many ways were quite influenced by Pep Guardiola’s style.
Whether we realize it or not, after Julian Nagelsmann left, Bayern no longer has a clear character and playing system. Pragmatism under Thomas Tuchel made Manuel Neuer et al lose character and make it easier for opponents to anticipate.
If you really want to rebuild the team with a new identity, Bayern’s idea of bringing in Kompany makes sense. However, this is a big bet, especially considering the transfer costs are quite expensive for a young coach with little experience at the top level.
If successful, we will see again a team with the consistency of a hot diesel engine, and it is not impossible to go far in Europe. Kompany can also start to build a reputation as “a potential Pep Guardiola student coach.”
But, if it fails, it looks like this period of chaos in the German giants will continue, and the appointment of Vincent Kompany to the coaching post will have an unpleasant story, because the club paid tens of millions of euros in compensation, only for a short period that failed miserably.
What is Vincent Kompany’s progress as Bayern Munich coach?
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