Niko Kovač may have been sacked as Bayern Munich coach years ago, but he is still helping out his former club.
According to a report from Sport Bild, the Bavarians sounded out the current Borussia Dortmund head coach last season as they contemplated a transfer move for BVB winger Jamie Gittens — and Kovač’s feedback cemented Bayern’s decision to go in another direction.
As captured by @iMiaSanMia:
Niko Kovač advised Bayern against signing one of his own Dortmund players last year
How? Last summer, after
Bayern failed to sign priority target Nico Williams, they turned to alternatives. One of them was Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens. The supervisory board, including Uli Hoeneß and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, was skeptical about the player. A club employee was tasked with contacting Niko Kovač to get an honest opinion from him about Gittens. Kovač is said to have made it more than clear that he considers the Englishman “not professional enough” to succeed at FC Bayern. The club then abandoned the pursuit of Gittens and went all in on Luis Díaz. Gittens ended up joining Chelsea
[@BILD, Bayern Insider]
BFW Commentary
That is quite the report. It is interesting that Kovač — who has taken to bemoaning the state of his BVB roster — offered up such a searing indictment of one of his own players. And even more interesting that such information would work its way to the media.
Gittens, 21, has made 16 league appearances for Chelsea (five starts) and notched two assists in 495 minutes. He’s an England youth international and will link up next season with former Bayer Leverkusen and Real Madrid coach Xabi Alonso, who is the incoming Blues manager. The Englishman flashed serious potential at Dortmund, enough to command a reported fee of nearly £50M.
But at least in the short term, it seems that Bayern made the right call. Luis Díaz has been an instant hit in the Bayern attack.
And Nico Williams? Solid but not other-wordly production for an Athletic Club team that finished 12th in LaLiga.
If you are looking for more Bayern Munich and German national team coverage, check out the latest episodes of Bavarian Podcast Works, which you can get on Acast, Spotify, Apple, or any leading podcast distributor…
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