The 57-year-old Julen Lopetegui most recently coached the English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers, where his contract was terminated last August a few days before the start of the season. Lopetegui had previously looked following the Spanish national team, Real Madrid and Sevilla FC, among others.
“Bild” also reported that the Munich-based company was checking whether Lopetegui was an option as a coach. Accordingly, Roger Schmidt from Benfica Lisbon should also be an option – although the ex-Salzburg coach has already emphasized that he will stay with Benfica. After the rejections of Ralf Rangnick, Julian Nagelsmann and Xabi Alonso, the German record champions are still looking for a successor to coach Thomas Tuchel, who will leave the club in the summer.
“The agreement stands”
Bayern President Herbert Hainer does not expect Tuchel to remain employed. “The agreement is in place,” said Hainer on Saturday on the sidelines of Bayern’s early title win in Leverkusen. Sports director Max Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund are in many discussions with possible successors. “I am convinced we will present a good coach,” said Hainer.
He only found out from the media that Tuchel had said on Friday that it was theoretically possible to terminate the separation agreement. “Now we’ll wait and see what happens,” said Hainer. But Tuchel also said that the agreement for his departure still stands.
“I know how to do the job”
Meanwhile, Eberl no longer wanted to comment on any of the rumored names. “I know how to do the job,” said Eberl on Sky on Saturday before the game at VfB Stuttgart. Eberl said that the fact that all the experts, “every forest-and-meadow newspaper,” would jump into the topic shows how interesting FC Bayern is. Rangnick’s rejection was “ultimately surprising”. “But for us it is what it is, and now we move on,” said Eberl, who spoke of a “door” that had now suddenly opened. The official did not reveal any more details. The club acts “very, very reliably” and “very, very conscientiously”.
