Lothar Matthäus: Tuchel is the only long-term alternative to Hansi Flick at Bayern Munich

Hansi Flick still hasn’t used his new pen to sign a new contract for Bayern Munich, but there’s a strong feeling that he’s the right man for the long-term managerial job at the club. Since he’s taken charge of the club, Bayern have gone from 7th place in the Bundesliga to top of the table with an impressive 3-0 aggregate lead over Chelsea in the Champions League round of 16.

While Flick still hasn’t officially been offered the job, Lothar Matthäus said he feels that there’s really only one alternative. In his column for Sky Sports Germany (via AZ), he said that Thomas Tuchel should be the only other option for Bayern. Matthäus still considers Flick the favorite: under Flick, Matthäus wrote, the sense of unity and togetherness on the squad is as strong as ever:

Since he’s been there, there’s been calm and unity at the club and especially in the team. No one complains because he isn’t playing or is unhappy with training. No one is making snarky remarks or showing frustration publicly. The credit for that goes to him alone. And on top of all that, we can’t forget that Bayern is usually playing very attractive, dominant and winning football.

Photo by A. Beier/Getty Images for FC Bayern

It’s been a tight Bundesliga race this season. RB Leipzig is still only 3 points behind Bayern, and Borussia Monchengladbach still have a match in hand. The race could come down to the wire like it did last season, but Matthäus feels it’s necessary to have the coaching situation figured out before the season ends. If it’s not Flick, he sees Tuchel as the only realistic, alternative:

Of course they might not win the title at the end or might get knocked out of the champions league. But you can’t wait until the end of the season with a contract. The only alternative seems to be Thomas Tuchel. Whether he fits better than Flick at Bayern, I daresay I doubt that very much.

Before Niko Kovac got the Bayern coaching job in the summer leading up to the 2018/2019 season, Tuchel had been in the running before he wound up going to Paris Saint-Germain. Differing opinions about Tuchel in Bayern’s front office were a big reason why the club ultimately decided not to make him an offer.

Photo by TF-Images/Getty Images

Of course, both Jupp Heynckes and Ottmar Hitzfeld recently referred to Flick as the “ideal manager” for Bayern, which is a opinion that Matthäus certainly doesn’t disagree with:

I’ll put it this way: if two of the biggest Bayern managers of all time, Jupp Heynckes and Ottmar Hitzfeld, speak out for a future with Flick at Bayern, I can only back those comments.