Bayern Munich have confirmed that Vincent Kompany is their new head coach after the German club agreed a £10.2million compensation deal with Burnley for his signature.
Kompany, 38, has agreed a three-year contract with Bayern and will take his assistants, Floribert Ngalula and Bram Geers, from Burnley with him.
“It’s a great honour to be able to work for this club,” the former Manchester City captain said. “Bayern is an institution in international football. As a coach, you have to stand for who you are as a person: I love having the ball, being creative — and we also have to be aggressive on the pitch and courageous.
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“I’m now looking forward to the most basic things: working with the players, building a team. When the foundation is in place, success will follow.”
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Christoph Freund , Bayern’s sporting director, added: “Vincent Kompany is a type of coach who fits in very well with FC Bayern’s playing philosophy and identity: his teams want the ball, want to play dominant and high-intensity football.
“He is a young, very ambitious coach who brings a lot of international experience, has his finger on the pulse of the players and knows exactly what should happen on the pitch. He can and will give our team an enormous amount.”
Bayern initially asked Burnley about the possibility of appointing Kompany about a week ago after they were turned down by several candidates, including Julian Nagelsmann, Xabi Alonso and Ralf Rangnick.
The Champions League semi-finalists also tried to persuade their present manager, Thomas Tuchel, to remain at the club but he could not agree terms on a new deal. Tuchel had announced in February that he would leave Bayern in the summer after several disputes with the board.
The former Chelsea manager, who is on a four-man shortlist for the manager’s job at Manchester United, lasted just one season in charge of Bayern. He took Bayern to the Champions League semi-finals but finished third in the Bundesliga behind Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart.
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“Max Eberl [sporting director] and Christoph Freund never gave up and worked meticulously to find a coach who would lead FC Bayern to success and develop it further with new ideas,” Jan-Christian Dreesen, Bayern’s chief executive, said. “Vincent Kompany represents exactly the togetherness and team spirit that we need.”
Kompany was in charge of Burnley for two seasons. In his maiden campaign, he guided Burnley to the Premier League after winning the Sky Bet Championship. They lasted only one season in the top flight, however, and were relegated in 19th place with 24 points.
Prior to taking over at Burnley, the 38-year-old former Manchester City centre back spent three seasons in charge of Anderlecht.
