With today’s breaking news that Thomas Tuchel will be leaving his position as Bayern Munich manager at the end of the season, we could be about to see an intriguing managerial merry-go-round across Europe that impacts big clubs like Liverpool and Barcelona.
While news of Tuchel’s exit probably won’t come as a big surprise to many after Bayern’s disappointing recent form, it’s not yet clear who is in line to replace the German tactician at the Allianz Arena, and that will surely be one key move in the domino effect with other managers’ moves.
While Liverpool fans will surely be focusing on securing Carabao Cup Final Tickets for this weekend’s big game against Chelsea, there’ll also surely be some nerves among those backing the Reds, as Bayern deciding to part ways with Tuchel could now represent their biggest hurdle to landing their preferred replacement for Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp recently announced that he’d be leaving Anfield at the end of the season, and it was immediately the name of former LFC midfielder Xabi Alonso, currently in charge of the Bayer Leverkusen side leading Tuchel’s Bayern by eight points in the Bundesliga table, that came to mind.
Alonso is indeed well known to be Liverpool’s leading candidate for the job, but the Spanish tactician is also a former Bayern player and his superb work in Germany means he’s also firmly in Bayern’s plans.
Still, it’s not that clear cut yet and it may be that a move to the Premier League would appeal more to Alonso for the next challenge of his career, which may lead Bayern to look at their former manager Hansi Flick, who is currently available after his sacking by the German national team last year.
Flick notably won the treble in his first spell as Bayern manager, but things didn’t go well for him in the Germany job, and another issue now is that he’s understood to favour that vacancy that’s about to open up at Barcelona, with Xavi another name we know will be leaving his current position in the summer.
If Bayern do manage to pip Liverpool to Alonso, it’s felt that there are numerous other names being considered by the Merseyside giants, and fans would surely be pretty happy with Brighton’s Roberto De Zerbi, who has been strongly linked with the role, whilst also attracting interest from Barca as they plan for life after Xavi.
As for Tuchel, it remains to be seen what lies in store for the former Chelsea boss, but one imagines there’d be a fair few who’d welcome him back at Stamford Bridge after the struggles of Graham Potter and Mauricio Pochettino since succeeding him!