How Julian Nagelsmann built his reputation as a new, young talent 

He puts on makeup at press conferences, idolizes John Terry, arrives at practice on his skateboard and leaves on his motorcycle. And while Bayern Munich fired Julian Nagelsmann on his day off while skiing in the Alps on Thursday and was replaced by Thomas Tuchel, he could be at Tottenham by the end of the week to replace Antonio Conte if he really wants an abrupt career change. relentlessly digesting the manic nature of the past week.

The availability of the 35-year-old vegetarian, the go-to coach for Gen X hipsters everywhere, has fallen into the lap of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. He was the man who wanted to replace José Mourinho in 2021 only to find that Bayern were way ahead of the game and had it level for the following season.

Back then, he was the man everyone wanted, having become the youngest manager in Bundesliga history at the age of 28 with Hoffenheim, whom he saved from relegation in a great escape finale to the season. He led that team to the Champions League, interviewed for the Arsenal job as Arsene Wenger’s replacement, but the board thought appointing a 31-year-old to that job was a step too far and he ended up at RB Leipzig, who he took to a Champions League semifinal – they lost to Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain – and second in the Bundesliga.

What to do with his Bayern career is puzzling. They won the Bundesliga last year (pretty standard) and despite recent poor form (in Bayern terms, that means eight wins and two losses in the last 10) they are locked in a duel with Borussia Dortmund, with the two teams facing off in a game billed as the title decider next Saturday. They have an excellent record in the Champions League this season and face Manchester City in the quarter-finals, although they lost in that stage against Villarreal last season.

She’s always turned heads, once speaking confidently at a press conference about how plucked brows and makeup made her drooping eyes look better. “Women are always allowed to look good, so I thought you can do it too as a man,” she said.

Spurs manager Conte faces sacking at Tottenham after a bizarre outburst last weekend

Nagelsmann was recently sacked by Bayern Munich and replaced by Thomas Tuchel (centre)

As a Millennial coach, you should be the go-to guy to hook up with young players. “I want to be the same Julián in my spare time as Julián is on the court, so if I want to get out of bed in the morning and I want to go on my skateboard, I don’t think about the headlines,” he said. saying.

However, there is only a hint of a bigoted hippy in him. All the external signifiers say cold, relaxed 30 something. However, he is obsessive and demanding about tactical discipline, and some Bayern players privately suggest that he overcomplicates the game.

Joshua Kimmich, the Bayern captain, spoke fondly of him last week upon learning of his dismissal. But he failed to fit in with the squad. He fell out with veterans Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer, who is older than the coach. And he never really won over Gen X players.

But any coach who leaves his wife for the reporter who covers Bayern Munich for Bild Zeitung, the German equivalent of The Sun, will have a hard time establishing trust in a dressing room.

Nagelsmann failed to win over the players or fit in with the team during his time in Germany

Nagelsmann was the man Tottenham president Daniel Levy wanted to replace José Mourinho

Eyebrows were raised, and not necessarily sculpted, when his relationship with Lena Wurzenberger was revealed, appropriately in Bild. Since then, she has left the role. But it’s quite revealing to find out that her coach has literally been sharing a bed with the reporter tasked with getting locker room secrets for Germany’s most aggressive and best-selling newspaper.

Another characteristic of Nagelsmann is his admiration for English football and Terry. When I spoke to him in Munich last year, he was adamant about his most influential player. ‘When he was a youth player he played with [team-mate] Christian Trasch and he always called me John Terry —“Johnny”— because I was the central defender. These days John Terry was one of the best central defenders. There was a season in which he did not lose a single duel. He was brave headed, which was the main issue for me.

It led to a comic situation when RB Leipzig played Aston Villa in a pre-season friendly when Terry was the manager there, with Nagelsmann trying to explain to Terry that he was his childhood hero.

“He looked at me funny,” Nagelsmann said. “But he was kind of a role model because he was a great central defender and he loved to defend. And it’s a very important issue for me and for my players: when I talk to a defender, I tell him: “Your name is defender, first of all, you have to defend.”

Former Chelsea defender and captain John Terry was Nagelsmann’s hero as a child.

What Spurs will get is a similar level of positional obsession to Conte, but with a much more dominant focus on possession and, crucially, an intent to move the ball forward quickly. “I want short distances between the players, because you can change the game very quickly in possession of the ball, the ball moves very fast and that marks the way.” [sets the tone] for the counterpressed, which is the most important issue. I only think about winning games, not about trying to avoid mistakes.

‘If we see space we try to speed up the game, have some counterattacks after your possession of the ball. And if you lose the ball, be very, very aggressive in counter-pressing. But if you have possession of the ball, it’s always about finding the good position behind the ball, very close distances between teammates. If you have a philosophy to have the ball, then you have to be very good at counter-pressing. If you have the ball and you are worse at counter-pressing, you will receive one counter-attack after another and you will concede many chances and the games will be very exhausting.’

On the bright side, the Spurs now have a chance to draft a man who could very well be a generational talent. The question mark would be whether he is a little Ralf Rangnick, great at teaming up with hungry players ready to embrace his tactical structures at young, disruptive clubs like Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, but less comfortable with the stars at traditional clubs.

But whether Nagelsmann is ready to jump from the frying pan onto the fire that quickly remains the key question.