When it was revealed that Thomas Tuchel would be departing Bayern Munich at the end of the campaign, many believed that the record champions would quickly find a successor. However, Der Rekordmeister faced a number of high-profile rejections, leaving them to broaden their horizons in the search for a new head coach.
While Der Rekordmeister eventually appointed former Burnley head coach Vincent Kompany, the Belgian was far from the club’s first choice. Bayer Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso was the first to turn down the job, before German national team manager Julian Nagelsmann followed suit.
Bayern then turned their attention to the current Austrian national team head coach, Ralf Rangnick. With a deal for the former Schalke and Manchester United head coach edging closer, it appeared as though Bayern had finally found Tuchel’s successor.
But why did Ralf Rangnick have a change of heart?
Nevertheless, Rangnick became the third person to reject Bayern’s advances. Speaking to kicker (via AZ), Rangnick revealed the true reason as to why he decided against becoming the new Bayern head coach:
“We invested two years here in Austria to get to where we are now. I didn’t want to jeopardize that.”
As well as this, Rangnick explained that turning down Bayern was “one of the most difficult professional decisions” he has had to make in his career. There was also speculation that Bayern’s honorary president Uli Hoeneß had influenced his decision, but the 65-year-old stated that, if anything, “Uli Hoeneß would have been one of the reasons for doing it.”
Austria kickstart their EURO 2024 campaign on June 17, where they will face France. Alongside the 2018 World Cup winners, Poland and the Netherlands are the two other sides Austria will need to navigate if they are to qualify out of their group.
GGFN | Will Shopland
