Bayern Munich are suffering from a mini-crisis at the moment. In a week that saw, Bayern draw two back to back Bundesliga games whilst being humiliated by PSG, which was followed by the immediate sacking of Carlo Ancelotti, Bayern are in the hunt for a replacement in the managerial market.
It is highly expected that former boss Jupp Heynckes, the cult hero in Bavaria, will sit at the helm throughout the rest of the season. Heynckes led Bayern to a treble in the 2012-13 season and retired afterwards as one of the club’s living legends. The 72-year-old himself has confirmed Bayern’s interest but a deal is yet to be concluded.
While Heynckes works on cleaning up the mess for the remainder of the season, a lot of names have emerged as possible candidates to take charge of Bayern next season. But very few could match the success of Luis Enrique. The former Barcelona boss, who left the Camp Nou after the end of last season, despite two successful years at the Catalan club, is apparently a hot topic in Munich.
German TV Sport1 and Spanish news outlet AS, both claim that Luis Enrique will be the man to replace Carlo Ancelotti at the Bayern helm. While they were wrong on the first part, Enrique certainly makes a case for joining the Bavarians next season.
So what does it possibly mean for the defending champions of Germany?
Luis Enrique can be the one Bayern need as they aim to bring back the glory days under previous boss Pep Guardiola. Since the departure of the Catalan boss, the Bavarians have never managed to reach the same heights under his initial replacement Carlo Ancelotti.
Enrique did a superb job at Barcelona by bringing back their former identity, which was evident under Pep Guardiola. In fact, Guardiola himself had chosen Luis Enrique to be his most trusted candidate. Both Pep and Enrique have known each other for a long time, and preach the same footballing philosophy, which led to success for both these managers at their respectives clubs.
But appointing Luis Enrique in the mid-season wouldn’t have been a bad decision either. Given the fact that Enrique is known to be a quick impact manager. He won’t take any time settling down to new conditions hopefully, which will only put pressure on Borussia Dortmund at the top of the table. While Bayern initially set their sights on the next season to once again emerge as the mighty force in Germany, Enrique could have used the remainder of the season to instil his tactical philosophy among the new group of players.
We might see some new players coming into the club, presumably from FC Barcelona. The likes of Andre Gomes, Denis Suarez, Sergi Roberto could all be shown the door and could have futures in Germany under Luis Enrique.
However, on the other hand, Luis Enrique also had his fair share of troubles in Barcelona. According to few reports, Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi wasn’t all too happy with the coach’s performance and threated the Barca officials that he’d leave if they do not sack coach Luis Enrique. Considering, Ancelotti’s troubles with keeping the Bayern player content, we might see an even worse situation under the 47-year-old.
Either way, regardless of who Bayern appoint as their manager next season, the Bavarians are expected to bounce back from their poor form soon enough, especially when all of the candidates to replace Ancelotti are more or less world class. Therefore, an optimist Bayern fan shouldn’t be too concerned with who sits on the helm.
