Bayern Munich and Their Options for Head Coach
Following the recent refusal of Austrian national team coach Ralf Rangnick to sign with Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga club is considering the names of two or three other coaches, including Spanish Julen Lopetegui, as reported by German media.
The newspaper "Bild" reported that Bayern's sporting director, Max Eberl, is assessing whether the 57-year-old Spaniard could succeed Thomas Tuchel for the upcoming season.
On Eberl's list of potential candidates would also be Roger Schmidt, 57, coach of Benfica with Angel Di María, and Erik ten Hag, 54, coach of Manchester United who had previously been with the Bavarian club as Pep Guardiola's assistant coach.
Sky also reported along the same lines that Bayern has reached out to Lopetegui to gauge his willingness to coach the German team.
The Spaniard recently coached the Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League from November 2022 to last August and has been without a club since then.
Lopetegui has also previously coached the Spanish national team from 2016 to 2018, Real Madrid for three months and 14 games, and Sevilla between 2019 and 2020, among others.
Following refusals from Rangnick, the German national team coach, Julian Nagelsmann, and Leverkusen's coach, Xabi Alonso, Bayern continues to search for a successor to Tuchel, who will leave the club in the summer, although this Friday he showed openness to reconsider his decision when asked about it.