Bayern Munich are close to concluding a deal for Vincent Kompany to become their next manager, despite his Premier League relegation with Burnley.
The Bundesliga club are expected to appoint Kompany, 38, to succeed Thomas Tuchel in the coming days after discussing a compensation package, as the former Belgium international has a contract at Turf Moor until 2028.
It is understood Kompany will look to take his backroom team with him to the Allianz Arena, including assistant Craig Bellamy and first-team coaches Piet Cremers, Mike Jackson and Floribert N’Galula.
Bayern is confident that the agreement will come to fruition and could make the appointment official in the coming days.
Kompany emerged with credit in his debut Premier League season, despite finishing the campaign with 24 points and five wins.
Pep Guardiola has always hailed him as an eventual Manchester City manager, having won four Premier Leagues as captain during his time at the Etihad Stadium. After a first stint as coach at Anderlecht in his homeland, he took Burnley to the Premier League in his first managerial role in England.
The Bayern job will represent a major step forward for Kompany in his coaching career, even though he has experience on the biggest stages at City and Belgium. His team will include Harry Kane and Eric Dier – both of whom he faced as a player – and will look to improve on last season’s third-place finish, when the club failed to win the Bundesliga after 11 successive titles.
It was announced in February that Tuchel would leave Bayern this summer, although he had also recently held talks about staying before his departure was confirmed. Fans also launched a petition for him to stay after leading them to the Champions League semi-final.
Bayern have been linked to several coaches over the last three months. Xabi Alonso was an obvious candidate after his unbeaten run, but he chose to remain at Bayer Leverkusen. There have been inquiries into Erik ten Hag, who still works at Manchester United, while Julen Lopetegui was on the radar but joined West Ham.
Ralf Rangnick also talked to Bayern, but decided to stay with the Austrian team. Others loosely linked included Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Zinedine Zidane.
Kompany managed two players who performed well in Germany during his time at Burnley, with Ian Maatsen and Nathan Tella on loan at Turf Moor. Maatsen is preparing for the Champions League final with Borussia Dortmund, while Tella has the Europa League final with Leverkusen.
