Loew scoffs at Bayern rumors
GERMANY’S World Cup-winning head coach Joachim Loew has ruled out taking over at Bayern Munich next season with the Bundesliga leader hunting for Jupp Heynckes’ successor.
Loew, 58, has a contract with the German FA until 2020 and emphatically ruled out media speculation linking him to Bayern next season.
“That is absolutely not a subject for me,” he told broadcaster ZDF with Germany hosting Brazil in a friendly yesterday.
With less than three months to go before the World Cup kicks off, Loew says he has “other things to worry about” than Bayern.
The Bavarians are scouting for a new coach for 2018/19 as Heynckes, 72, has yet to clarify if he’ll continue next season.
After 12 highly successful years as the national team’s boss, Bayern would only become a realistic option for Loew if Germany has a disastrous World Cup campaign.
Under Loew, Germany has always reached at least the semifinals of all major competitions. His finest hour was the 2014 World Cup triumph, but he also won the Confederations Cup last year with an inexperienced squad in Russia after resting all his star players.
Nevertheless, Bayern is running out of options in the quest to find Heynckes’ successor.
Former Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel has turned it down. Tottenham Hotspur’s Mauricio Pochettino, Lucien Favre at Nice, and Eintracht Frankfurt boss Niko Kovac have all been linked to the Bayern job.
According to Bild daily, the frontrunner is Ralph Hasenhuettl, the RB Leipzig coach.
The 50-year-old has been targeted by both Bayern and its Bundesliga rival Borussia Dortmund. Bild claims Hasenhuettl would cost either club 10 million euros (US$12.4 million) to buy out of his contract, which expires in June 2019.
Dortmund’s current coach Peter Stoeger, who is unbeaten in his 12 league games since taking charge in December, only has a contract until June.
Meanwhile, Bayern goalkeeper Manuel Neuer celebrated his 32nd birthday by returning to training for the first time since September.
Bayern said the Germany captain completed two 10-minute running sessions under the guidance of fitness and rehabilitation coach Thomas Wilhelmi.
Neuer hasn’t played since getting another hairline fracture of the metatarsal in his left foot while training. He hopes to return in time to lead Germany at the World Cup in Russia.