Vincent Kompany was officially unveiled as Bayern Munich’s new coach on Thursday, insisting he did not share the football world’s surprise at his appointment.
Bayern’s decision to take a chance on the 38-year-old former Manchester City defender caught many people by surprise because his first foray into coaching in the Premier League ended with Burnley’s relegation two weeks ago.
But Kompany said: “I think the aspect of being surprised is because you assume it’s the only club that has called and you only assume that because I’m a private person.
“Maybe I was surprised by the first call, but it wasn’t from Bayern Munich,” he said at the press conference, speaking in a mix of German and English.
“My mentality is that I have never worked for a big club in my head,” said Kompany.
Kompany replaces Thomas Tuchel after Bayern’s failed attempts to attract Bayer Leverkusen coach Xabi Alonso, Germany coach Julian Nagelsmann and Austrian Ralf Rangnick to one of football’s biggest jobs.
Reflecting on Bayern’s recruitment process, he said with a smile: “The only thing I can say is that being here means they are doing a very good job!”
And he has presented a clear vision of how he wants to shape his new team, which has just suffered its first trophyless season in 12 years.
“As a coach, you have to coach who you are as a person.
“I grew up on the streets of Brussels. I want the Bayern Munich players to be courageous and have personality on the ball. I want the team to be aggressive. I want the team to represent my character, to be courageous and aggressive.”
After a successful playing career where he captained Manchester City and the Belgian national team, Kompany returned to his first club Anderlecht to begin his coaching career.
He moved to Burnley in 2022 and took the team to the Premier League as champions of the second division, before returning to earth with a poor season in which they won just five games and returned to the Championship.
Bayern sporting director Max Eberl believes they made a good investment in acquiring Kompany, someone he said has been on their radar “for a long time”.
“Vincent has everything except the experience of having worked at a top club so far.
“He has a great personality and his style of play suits FC Bayern perfectly: we want to be dominant, we want to have the ball. steps with him.”
He added: “In terms of experience, we are now walking the path together with him.
“We had a long decision-making process when looking for a coach and I can say: we saved the best for last.”
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