Former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel has agreed to take over as Bayern Munich manager after the Bundesliga champions made the shock decision to axe Julian Nagelsmann.
Tuchel, 49, has been out of work since September of last year after being sacked by Chelsea following a 1-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb in their opening Champions League fixture.
The German coach had won the competition a year earlier – making the final in back-to-back years, having also got there with PSG in 2020 – but reportedly fell out with the west London club’s new owners.
There had been suggestions Tuchel might replace Antonio Conte at Tottenham this week, but widespread reports in Germany claim Bayern have swooped in.
According to Sport Bild, the Bundesliga giants had growing concerns over Nagelsmann and were worried Tuchel would be appointed by another club if they did not pounce now.
Both Spurs and Real Madrid had been linked with approaches for the former Borussia Dortmund coach, who will take charge of his first match as Bayern manager against old side BVB next week.
Nagelsmann, meanwhile, is said to have been completely blind-sided by the decision and had been enjoying a skiing holiday in Austria during the international break.
Bayern are far and away the top scorers in the Bundesliga with 72 goals but are only in second place in the table, one point adrift of Borussia Dortmund after losing to Bayer Leverkusen.
The club’s hierarchy reportedly became rattled after that loss – even though Bayern had seen off PSG in the Champions League – and feel appointing Tuchel now improves their chances of winning the treble.
Nagelsmann will be officially informed of the decision in person on Friday, with Tuchel taking charge of his first training session on Monday before facing former side Dortmund the following weekend.
Tuchel has been living in Munich for the past few months though would have considered a return to London with Tottenham, though the north Londoners may now be tempted to meet with Nagelsmann having tried to appoint him before he took over at the Allianz Arena.
Joao Cancelo, who is on loan at Bayern from Manchester City, only found out the news after Portugal’s win over Liechtenstein on Thursday evening, saying: ‘I had no idea! I’ve only found out now.
‘I know I won’t find Nagelsmann when I return to Munich. I’d like to thank him. As for Tuchel, he made me lose a Champions League final, so I hope he will win it for me this year!’
