In a shocking turn of events, Bayern Munich are close to agreeing a deal for Vincent Kompany to be their next manager, pushing his assistant, Craig Bellamy, into the headlines.
Now, this is not what we had on our 2024 bingo cards!
The Bavarian club chose to part ways with Thomas Tuchel and have since been linked with countless managers without any success, but Wednesday evening brought surprise news.
According to the Telegraph, Kompany is poised to be named the next Bayern manager, despite Burnley‘s relegation.
The Belgian’s side collected just 24 points to finish 19th despite seeing the club back him in the transfer window with 15 signings worth over £100 million.
Bellamy is his assistant manager at Turf Moor, and they have worked closely together since 2019, when the ex-Red was appointed as Anderlecht’s U21s manager following Kompany’s appointment at the club.
The pair were previously team-mates at Man City, but it is said to be “unlikely” that Bellamy will join him in the Bundesliga, though he could be a candidate to take over at Burnley.
Two contrasting job possibilities, to say the least, and completely unexpected ones at that.
Kompany and Bayern feels like one of the unlikeliest couplings, but the Telegraph‘s report states the German club “are confident of the deal being done,” and it could be official this week.
It signifies Bayern’s struggles, in all honesty, going after Kompany after he relegated Burnley despite two teams being the subject of points deductions this season.
Bellamy has worked as Kompany’s assistant manager at Burnley since 2022 but has not voyaged out on his own in senior management, and time will tell if the Championship side turn to him.
The Welshman played 79 games for Liverpool across two spells (2006/07 and 2011/12) and was a member of the team that lifted the League Cup in 2012.
In all, what a strange set of circumstances, not something we anticipated to be on the cards!