Tuchel insists Bayern can compete with English elite clubs
Thomas Tuchel became the Bayern Munich manager after the club surprisingly dismissed Julian Nagelsmann from the dugout. Dismissing links to the Premier League, Tuchel denies joining Bayern was a backward step.
Being constantly linked with Tottenham, Thomas Tuchel admitted on Saturday that he didn't expect his next job to be in the Bundesliga. However, he believes the club can compete with English clubs as he will manage Bayern through to the quarter-finals in the Champions League and DFB-Pokal as well as sitting a point behind Dortmund in the Bundesliga.
Being asked about other opportunities that might have come his way, Tuchel said: "
I think it's fair to say the Premier League is an extremely incredible league, and with the highest level of competition in Europe right now.
"It's not a step back to come to the Bundesliga though. I think Bayern have a squad that could compete for the Premier League title."
Compared to Nagelsmann's five-year deal when he was appointed in April 2021, Tuchel signed up a two-and-a-half-year contract with the club. However, he's optimistic about the contract.
"For me, the length of contract doesn't play a big role,"
Tuchel said.
"We can be very honest about it. If things go well we can talk about extending it.
"It's a profession that's about performance and right now there's a lot of things changing: squads changing, clubs changing, hierarchies – if you look at Chelsea – that are changing completely. The length of the contract is perfect for me."
"My idea was my career would continue abroad and I wasn't expecting anything like this. Reports I used other offers as a means of applying pressure are not true."
On Bayern's offer, he added:
"I had to sleep on it first. The excitement and the thrill of taking on such a big task started outweighing everything else. We started communicating clearly between each other. There was nothing about other clubs."
He also confirmed he was close to joining Bayern in 2018 when Jupp Heynckes was at the helm. He said: "
I was very close to joining Bayern. At the time, Bayern had every right to wait for Jupp's decision.
"The fact is, I couldn't wait for Jupp to make a decision on his own career.
"On this occasion, things did go very quickly, and it's a fantastic solution for me."
Describing Bayern's squad as "
one of the most talented squads in Europe right now"
, he added they must not only win games and titles but
"it's about the way you win as well".
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