Details emerge on how Bayern Munich got Julian Nagelsmann from RB Leipzig

Even before Hansi Flick had publicly announced his desire to leave Bayern Munich there was a gut feeling that his future with the club was at least uncertain. All the stars were aligned for him to become the next German National team manager, given that Joachim Low had announced he would be stepping down after this summer’s European Championships. Up until Flick made his announcement after the 3-2 win at VfL Wolfsburg, he had not come out and concretely said “no” to becoming the next Die Mannschaft manager, so that possibility was always looming just beneath the surface. With that, Julian Nagelsmann was always the name on the top of the list to replace Flick at Bayern.

Fast forward to earlier this week, and Nagelsmann was officially announced as Bayern’s next manager. He will assume the role as of July 1st. While there were certainly other qualified candidates to succeed Flick, Nagelsmann was always the man for the job. But there’s a lot that went into getting him from RB Leipzig. Per a new report from SportBild, Hasan Salihamidizc, Oliver Kahn, and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge were the chief architects in making this deal happen, as it was fast-tracked after Flick expressed his desire to leave Bayern.

While Rummenigge had been vociferous in his admiration of Flick and the hopes that he would stay on as manager for longer than this season, he identified Nagelsamnn as the natural successor at some point down the road. He didn’t necessarily think it would come as quickly as it did. Kahm, who will replace Rummenigge as Bayern’s CEO at the end of the year, was responsible for the negotiations with RB Leipzig CEO Oliver Mintzlaff and Dietrich Mateschitz, head of the RedBull group. Salihamidzic was also heavily involved in the negotiations, though he was, at times, painted in a bad picture because of perceived tensions between himself and Flick. Externally, it felt as if Flick had issues with the fact that a lot of his personal decisions and desires were overridden by Brazzo and Bayern’s board. This wasn’t the sole reason Flick wanted to leave Bayern, but it most certainly didn’t make matters any easier, despite the two suggesting they had a “solid” working relationship.

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Nagelsmann was always the top target for Brazzo and Kahn, who both, in a way, sort of represent a changing of the guard at FC Bayern. Even though Rummenigge wanted Flick to stay beyond this season, Brazzo and Kahn recognized that Flick’s desire to leave wasn’t going to change and negations with Leipzig and Nagelsmann accelerated when Bayern was knocked out of the Champions League by virtue of Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals. This coincided with Flick’s public comments to the press after the win over Wolfsburg. That was the signal for Brazzo and Kahn to ramp up negotiations with Nagelsmann and Leipzig. Essentially, getting Nagelsmann was already a ready-to-go plan and Flick’s comments at the Volkswagen Arena pressed the start button.

It wasn’t long after Flick made his wishes clear that Nagelsmann expressed his desire to leave Leipzig for Bayern. For him, it’s been a lifelong dream to become manager at FC Bayern. He was even a Bayern fan as a young boy. In that sense, as soon as the call came from Brazzo, Kahn, and Rummenigge, he was ready to answer. The exact transfer fee for Naglesmann after add-ons will be around €25m, which is a record transfer fee for a manager. As announced earlier today, Jesse Marsch will be replacing Nagelsmann at Leipzig.