Bayern Munich and Thomas Tuchel agree to part ways at the end of the season
As first reported by Sky Germany, a meeting between Tuchel and the Bavarian club's management took place on Wednesday and ended with the two parties reaching an agreement that will see him remain manager until the end of the season but no longer.
"In a good, open discussion, we came to the decision to end our working relationship by mutual agreement in the summer," said CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen.
"Our goal is to pursue a new footballing direction with a new head coach for the 2024/25 season. Until then, every individual at the club is expressly called upon to achieve the maximum possible in the Champions League and Bundesliga. I also explicitly hold the team accountable in this regard.
"In the Champions League in particular, after losing 1- 0 in the first leg at Lazio, we are convinced we will reach the quarter-finals at a packed Allianz Arena with our fans behind us."
It's a decision that ultimately comes as little surprise given Bayern Munich's poor results of late.
In the Bundesliga, the reigning champions are in second place, eight points behind leaders Bayer Leverkusen, and in the Champions League, they need to overturn a 1-0 defeat to Lazio in Rome to qualify for the quarter-finals. The Bavarians have already been eliminated from the German Cup, where they lost to a third-tier team.
After a mediocre first half of the season, the club well and truly entered a crisis following their 3-0 defeat to Xabi Alonso's Leverkusen on February 10th, which infuriated fans and players alike.
“To be honest, I’m p***ed off," said Thomas Muller in a post-match interview. “To quote Oliver Kahn: what I miss from us players are the balls in the game.
“We are showing significantly better approaches in training. It’s OK to feel pressure, but there needs to be energy and freedom. That’s missing in our game.
"We have many international players at the highest level, we need to step up our game.”
After that loss, Bayern were then beaten 1-0 away to Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League clash before suffering a humiliating 3-2 defeat at the hands of Bochum.
"If you ask me, if I firmly still believe me and the coaching staff can turn things around - yes," Tuchel said after that match.
"Growing pressure? That happens after every defeat. But today we never stopped, never stopped trying... If we play this game five more times, we win it five times I don't blame the players today."
However, that loss was quickly followed by reports of a number of players including Muller, Joshua Kimmich and Matthijs de Ligt losing faith in Tuchel while the vast majority of supporters wanted him gone. The German, who only took over as manager last March, has now succumbed to the pressure.
"We have agreed that we will end our working relationship at the end of this season. Until then, I will of course continue to do everything I can with my coaching staff to achieve maximum success," he said following the announcement.
As for who will replace him, the club's first choice looks to be former player Xabi Alonso, but whether they can get him is unclear given Liverpool are also interested.
Hansi Flick, Jose Mourinho and Antonio Conte have also been linked with the post.
