Bayern Munich are by no means immune to mistakes, but they rarely make the same mistake twice. The ground lost to Borussia Dortmund between 2010 and 2012 was spectacularly recaptured, along with many of the rival club’s best players. The abortive reign of Carlo Ancelotti in 2016 seems to have warned the club hierarchy off the allure of the star foreign manager. And the remarkable chain of events that has reconfigured the landscape of German football over the past fortnight may just have its origins in Bayern’s failed pursuit of a promising young coach called Thomas Tuchel.
Tuchel had been on Bayern’s radar as early as 2014, when Pep Guardiola began to recommend the Mainz coach as a potential successor. Cordial meetings were held with the sporting director, Michael Reschke, and the club president, Uli Hoeness. But it was in 2018, when the veteran coach Jupp Heynckes announced his retirement, that the chase really began. Heynckes publicly anointed Tuchel as his chosen successor and talks were arranged. But Bayern were too late. Tuchel had made up his mind to go abroad, and would soon be unveiled as the manager of Paris Saint-Germain.
