Only days before critical Champions League and Bundesliga matches next month, Bayern Munich was ready to announce Friday that they had fired coach Julian Nagelsmann and replaced him with former Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel.
Just two years prior, Bayern signed Nagelsmann to a five-year contract, but tensions have been running high as the defending Bundesliga champions struggle to maintain their lead in the standings.
Bayern has not made the surprising move official, but the switch has received widespread coverage in German media.
Oliver Kahn, the club's chairman, and Hasan Salihamidzic, the sports director, were among the senior executives of Bayern Munich who arrived at the team's home stadium on Friday morning for an important meeting.
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German media report that Nagelsmann will formally be told of the choice later on Friday.
After being fired by Chelsea in September, Tuchel, who Bayern had previously been interested in but lost out to other top-tier European clubs, has been between jobs.
According to Germany's top-selling daily, Bild will oversee the team's first training session at Saebener Strasse shortly.
And on April 1, Bayern will play Borussia Dortmund, a team Tuchel coached from 2015 to 2017 before departing for Paris Saint-Germain.
Despite defeating PSG in a shocking Champions League defeat for the French top-flight team boasting talents Kylian Mbappe, Neymar, and Lionel Messi, Bayer Leverkusen handed the Germans a loss on Sunday.
Hasan Salihamidzic, the sporting director of Bayern, harshly criticized his team's performance following the lacklustre display against Leverkusen.
"Such poor motivation, attitude, tackling, and assertiveness. I hardly ever see that," he remarked.
The Phrase "Long-term Project"
With just 52 points from 25 games played, the Munich giants are having their worst season in 11 years and are now in second place, one point behind Dortmund.
Nagelsmann had stated that the match against Dortmund would be a "must-win game," failing which the club risks losing the crown, with only nine games remaining in the season.
Beyond anxiety over winning the title, Bild daily reported that the club fears losing out on Tuchel again. Bild noted that Tottenham has also indicated an interest in him and that Real Madrid may be looking for a new coach for the upcoming season.
According to German media, this could be the underlying cause of the unexpected timing of the decision.
Nagelsmann was lauded just last week by Herbert Hainer, the head of Bayern's supervisory board, who described him as a "great coach who displayed in Paris his expertise in tactics and concepts at the highest European level."
Salihamidzic has lately mentioned a "long-term objective" with the trainer in pursuit of titles.
The players were taken aback by the news that Nagelsmann received.
Joshua Kimmich revealed there had yet to be any communication from Bayern regarding the move while speaking at a press conference as the new captain of Germany.
He stated, "I can only say that Julian Nagelsmann is an outstanding coach," adding that he is "easily among the top three" after working with other top coaches.
After playing for Portugal on Thursday, defender Joao Cancelo said, "I did not know.
But, during the months, Nagelsmann's rapport with the group had deteriorated, particularly between him and captain Manuel Neuer in the wake of the goalkeeper's injury.
The Neuer-friendly goalie coach Toni Tapalovic was fired, and the Bavarian captain publicly expressed his rage in several interviews.
"It seems like someone tore out my heart", Neuer remarked.
