Jupp Heynckes is a man of his word, and he has always criticized the press for reading too much into things. Unfortunately for him, that’s exactly what we are going to do now. Speaking to the press ahead of Saturday’s clash against Hamburg, the Bayern Munich manager let slip some curious information.
The original question was regarding David Alaba’s recent interview, and how he might see himself playing somewhere else in the future. Heynckes said that the press reads too much into such things, and then said the following:
I have never announced in front of the entire team, that I will conclude my engagement here on June 30th.
Then, when asked about Tuchel becoming the next coach of Bayern Munich, he said this:
I can tell you, nothing has been decided. Because I have never definitively said that I am quitting on June 30th? Have you ever heard that from me? No? See!
Then, a reporter asked him if he wasn’t dropping a bombshell (the original German says “cannon-blast”), saying “You are saying that you’ve never clearly stated that you are quitting on June 30th”, Heynckes responded with this:
Have you ever heard that? See! You have to see what I said last year when I started. Our papers took that, and this is the kind of nitpicking that you have to live with.
Could this be a case of an old German man simply being pedantic? Heynckes did deliver the lines with a smirk, after all. Could this just be a case of “exact wording” making the difference? Are we reading to much into it? Almost certainly, but it’s fun to speculate.