Gboye

• Would you agree with the suggestion that your masterstroke signing wasn’t a player, but Vincent Kompany? Max Eberl: "I joined the club at a time when it was already clear that the coach would not continue beyond the end of the season. And now, looking back, I can say this: if I had presented Vincent Kompany as my very first choice, I don’t know what the reaction would have been. The relegated Burnley manager as Thomas Tuchel’s successor?” • How did you come up with his name, then? Eberl: "Of course, we worked our way through a list of candidates. Julian Nagelsmann was one of them; that’s no secret. I had a very good relationship with him, but he decided to take the Germany job. Ralf Rangnick also went in a different direction. We analysed the market very carefully at the time, and everything we heard about Burnley’s young coach was positive. At some point, I said, ‘Right, I’m just going to give Vinnie a call.’ We spoke on the phone before our Champions League semi-final in Madrid. After four hours, I had to say, ‘Sorry, it’s 6 p.m. I have to go to the team meeting.’ - I hung up and thought: Wow, this feels good! He’s a real character. Then I asked Christoph Freund to form his own opinion of him. He came back equally convinced.” • And how did Kompany ultimately end up joining Bayern? “Vinnie won promotion with Burnley with 101 points, only to be relegated again the following season. You could have looked at that and thought: He can’t get the job done; he can’t adapt. But we saw things differently. He has a clear footballing philosophy. He didn’t want to sit back with eight men in defence and hope for a point against Manchester City and Liverpool, with their billion-euro squads, in the Premier League. He wanted to win games, and I saw that as a positive. Furthermore, I knew that Pep Guardiola had Vinnie on his list of potential successors for when he eventually decided to step down as Manchester City manager. During all those discussions, which also always involved Jan-Christian Dreesen and Herbert Hainer, I suggested that Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeneß simply give Pep a call, since they have a good relationship with him. Two hours after that phone call, the response came back: ‘Okay, let’s do it!’ • And then? Eberl: “Then Christoph and I flew to Manchester for the final meeting. At three in the morning, Vinnie said, ‘Okay, I’d like to sleep on it and talk to my wife.’ - I lay down on his sofa. He asked, ‘What are you doing?’ I said, ‘Uli told me I’m not allowed to leave your house until you’ve signed.’ He then said, ‘Yes, Max, I’ll do it. But I need to talk to my wife first.’ In the end, he still managed to push me out the door.” (laughs) [Säbener 51]