Reports: Vincent Kompany to become Bayern Munich coach

According to British and German reports on Saturday, Vincent Kompany is set to become coach of FC Bayern Munich after an agreement was reached on a severance package with his current club Burnley.

Sky TV said all that was now missing was Kompany's signature on a three-year contract until 2027 to end the Bundesliga record champions' long and difficult search for a new head coach to succeed Thomas Tuchel after a rare season without a title.

The agreement with Burnley, where Kompany has been in charge since 2022 with a contract until 2028, was reportedly reached on Saturday.

Reports from BBC, Sky, the sports magazine Kicker and the Bild newspaper, among others, estimated that the transfer fee for the 38-year-old Belgian would be between ten and twelve million euros (10.8 to 13 million dollars).

There is no official confirmation yet. Sky said the deal could be completed over the weekend, Bild said it would be made official next week.

The former SV Hamburg and Manchester City defender Kompany spoke with Bayern sporting director Max Eberl and sporting director Christoph Freund and reportedly completely convinced them.

Bayern honorary president Uli Hoeneß is said to have advocated a return of Hansi Flick, who coached the team to seven titles in 2020 and 2021. But that seems to be off the table, as Flick is set to succeed Xavi Hernandez as coach of FC Barcelona.

Kompany had become the subject of speculation earlier this week after Bayern had failed to sign other, more prominent candidates in recent weeks.

Xabi Alonso from Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, national coach Nagelsmann and Austria coach Ralf Rangnick declared that they would stay, Oliver Glasner was not allowed to leave Crystal Palace and Tuchel also said that he would not stay after all.

After first coaching his Belgian youth club Anderlecht, Kompany led Burnley into the Premier League in his first season, but the club was unable to maintain its position that season and finished second to last.

His playing style is similar to that of Pep Guardiola, under whom he captained City and won four Premier League titles, and he favours possession football with a compact defence, an area where Bayern have shown weaknesses recently.

Guardiola has said he would be happy if Kompany got the job at Bayern, where he was coach from 2013 to 2016 before moving to City.

“I have the highest opinion of his work, as a person, his personality and his knowledge of the game,” said Guardiola.

“I love this club for many, many reasons. If they believe Vinnie is the right decision, they will have a man we will support unconditionally.”