Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich has rubbished claims that Julian Nagelsmann was sacked because he lost the trust of his players at Allianz Arena.
The 35-year-old was sacked by Bayern on Friday, despite steering the club into the quarterfinals of the Champions League and sitting just one point behind Borussia Dortmund on the Bundesliga table.
Former Borussia Dortmund, PSG and Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel has since replaced him. Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn claimed Bayern had played less successfully and less attractively and that big fluctuations in performance have cast doubt on their goals for this season, prompting them to sack Nagelsmann.
But according to rumours, Bayern sacked the German coach because of issues between the manager and board and several players seemingly losing faith.
However, German midfielder Joshua Kimmich has claimed Nagelsmann is one of the three best coaches he has worked under and has denied suggestions the Bayern squad had stopped playing for the 35-year-old.
“No, I wouldn’t say that,” Kimmich said, as reported by TZ via Sportsmail.
“‘The reasons are that we didn’t win enough games and weren’t successful enough.
“Of course, we are represented in all competitions. You could see that we didn’t perform properly in the Bundesliga. We only won five out of ten games.
“But I can say that the coach has not lost the dressing room. I’ve already been through a couple of coaching changes: it wasn’t the case that it was indicated internally in the dressing room because the players were dissatisfied. We were surprised.”
Fellow Bayern midfielder Leon Goretzka also revealed his shock about the news, stating he personally didn’t have any issues with the former coach.
“I didn’t have any problems with Nagelsmann. I don’t know how it was with others — but I can say that he didn’t lose the dressing room. The news of Julian being sacked was a shock! We (players) were all surprised.
“I would be lying if I said the last few days hadn’t affected me. It was extremely difficult. We’ve had a very close relationship with Julian. I probably saw him more than my family.”
Nagelsmann’s final match in charge was a 2-1 defeat away to top-four hopefuls Bayer Leverkusen which left them second in the table behind Dortmund, who they face in their next match on April 1.
