With Thomas Tuchel Leaving, Bayern Munich Are All In On Xabi Alonso

Head coach Thomas Tuchel will leave Bayern Munich at the end of the season. The decision comes just days after Bayern lost first 1-0 to Lazio in the Champions League and then 3-2 to Bochum in the Bundesliga. The results mean Bayern is now eight points behind league leaders Leverkusen and under pressure in the Champions League.

“We have agreed that we will end our collaboration after the end of this season,” Tuchel said in an official statement released by the club. Until then, my coaching staff and I will, of course, continue to do everything we can to ensure maximum success.”

Indeed, there have been speculations that Tuchel could be sacked following Bayern’s poor performance against Bochum on Sunday. Instead, CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen made a public statement that Tuchel will still be in charge in the buildup for the club’s preparations in a must-win game against Leipzig.

Despite that public vote of confidence, however, there was still a sense that Tuchel’s days in Munich could be numbered. What saved the head coach, at least in the short term, was a lack of genuine alternatives in place to take over right away.

Another factor has been the impending appointment of the new director of sport, Max Eberl. The former Gladbach and Leipzig sporting director is expected to join the club officially at some point in the spring. It is understood that the club didn’t want to make a significant strategic decision without Eberl in place first.

Reading between the lines, that is what Dreesen communicated to the press on Wednesday. “Our goal is to carry out a sporting realignment with a new coach for the 2024/25 season,” Dreesen said in a club statement. “Until then, every individual at the club is expressly challenged to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and the Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team responsible.”

Regardless, it all feels like patchwork by Bayern. The decision to put an end date on Tuchel’s time at Bayern, in many ways, feels like a band-aid to calm down both the dressing room and also an increasingly discontent fan scene.

The question is, will it work? After all, within the dressing room, there is a growing faction of players who view Tuchel with some suspicion and discontent. This was obvious when Joshua Kimmich was substituted against Bochum and fell out with Tuchel assistant Zsolt Löw.

Bayern and Kimmich have since tried to play down the incident. But within a couple of days Bild released a list of players that were against Tuchel. That list included Kimmich and Bayern’s head coach king maker Thomas Müller. With two key players against him, Tuchel will now face an uphill battle to salvage a season that has gone off the rails.

It feels like the Tuchel sacking has just been delayed to the summer. Indeed, it is hard to believe that the current constellation can continue over the next three months until the end of the season.

Another question is, who will be next at Bayern? The most obvious candidate is Leverkusen’s Xabi Alonso. Former Bayern CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge would like to see Alonso return to the Säbener Straße, where he played from 2014 to 2017. Among his former teams, Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Bayern, it is undoubtedly the club from the Bavarian capital Alonso feels the most attachment.

As a result, Bayern is now the favorite to land the Spaniard. But only if he decides to leave Leverkusen. And talking to people in and around Die Werkself, Alonso’s departure from Leverkusen is anything but certain. Instead, it seems increasingly likely that the Spaniard wants to continue his project in Western Germany.

With that in mind, Alonso is the primary candidate. But other candidates are also on the list. But whether it will be the often-mentioned Zinedine Zidane or even Simone Inzaghi. After the short-lived era under Nagelsmann and the disaster under Tuchel, Bayern must get this next appointment right.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth and on Threads: @manuveth