After a tough Bundesliga season, Bayern Munich is looking to hire Vincent Kompany, the current head coach of Burnley, as their new leader.
Kompany who is well-known in soccer, won the Premier League four times with Manchester City as a player and speaks German from his time at Hamburger SV.
He started his coaching career at Anderlecht in Belgium, where he led the team to a cup final in 2022.
He then moved to Burnley in England and helped them get promoted to the Premier League in the 2022/23 season with over 100 points. However, Burnley struggled this season in the Premier League.
Despite spending a lot on new players, Burnley finished 19th and got relegated. They only won five games and scored just 41 goals, the second fewest in the league.
Bayern Munich is interested in Kompany partly because there are not many other top coaches available.
They had hoped to hire Xabi Alonso or Arne Slot, but both took other jobs. Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick also reportedly turned them down.
Despite Burnley’s poor results, Kompany is seen as a good candidate because of his style of play.
He tried to get Burnley to play possession-based soccer, focusing on passing and building from the back.
Burnley had the 12th most possession and passes in the Premier League, and their goalkeepers made more passes than any other team’s goalkeepers.
Kompany’s style of play is attractive, but it did not lead to many goals or wins. This raises a question: Is it better to play beautiful soccer or to play in a way that gets results?
Other coaches like Steve Cooper at Nottingham Forest and Sean Dyche at Everton have kept their teams in the Premier League with a more defensive, results-focused approach.
Former Premier League manager, David Moyes, noted that style was important, but results were what ultimately mattered hence, Kompany’s approach is admirable, but sometimes, winning ugly is necessary to stay competitive.
While some coaches win by playing “ugly” soccer, Kompany’s focus on attractive soccer seems to be helping his career, as he is now in the running for one of the biggest coaching jobs in soccer.
