Bayern Munich’s Pursuit Of Vincent Kompany Is About Style Over Results

In Liverpool, England on April 6th, Vincent Kompany, who is Burnley's manager, showed thanks to the supporters after the Premier League game between Everton FC and Burnley FC at Goodison Park. This picture was taken by Matt McNulty and shared by Getty Images.

Bayern Munich had a tough time in the Bundesliga this season, but it seems they are set to bring on board Vincent Kompany, the current head coach of Burnley, to take up the role of their new head coach.

Kompany is considered to be one of the most promising head coaches, having won the Premier League four times as a Manchester City player and acquiring knowledge of German while playing for Hamburger SV.

He began his journey as a coach with the Belgian team Anderlecht. He took them to the finals of the cup in 2022. After that, he headed to England to manage Burnley. There, he achieved success by helping them get promoted to the Premier League in 2022/23. He scored over 100 points in the EFL Championship, which was a great feat. He played a different brand of soccer compared to the previous manager, Sean Dyche, who preferred a direct approach.

Despite their big spending on transfers this season, which was more than other lower Premier League teams, and even with two of their relegation rivals being penalized with point deductions, Burnley were still unable to avoid relegation and finished 19th in the league table.

Throughout the whole season, Burnley only managed to secure five victories in their league matches. Out of those five wins, two came from competing against Sheffield United who were at the bottom of the league rankings. Additionally, Burnley was only able to score 41 goals, placing them second from the bottom in terms of scoring in the league.

What is the reason behind Bayern Munich's interest in Kompany?

There are not a lot of options available for top clubs who are looking for new head coaches. This is partly why Bayern may have difficulty finding the right candidate. In a perfect circumstance, they may have considered Xabi Alonso, who successfully led Bayer Leverkusen to an unbeaten season in the Bundesliga, or Arne Slot, who recently became a part of Liverpool. Bayern supposedly faced refusals from Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick as well.

Another explanation is that there are some warnings to be aware of regarding Burnley's demotion. The difference in quality between the Championship and the Premier League is enormous, and newly promoted teams have to invest a significant amount of money to have any hope of staying in the top division. Burnley's spending can seem excessive because they have mostly pursued promising young prospects like goalkeeper James Trafford, paying extra for their potential to become stars many years from now and for their substantial resale worth.

Kompany's potential appointment as the head coach of German soccer's top team is primarily due to the innovative style of play he aimed to implement while managing Burnley.

Kompany attempted to encourage Burnley to adopt a possession-oriented approach to soccer, emphasizing building from the back, passing the ball around the pitch, and minimizing cross and counter-attack strategies. They ranked 12th in possession, passes (averaging 432 per game), and passing accuracy in the Premier League, making them the second-best squad in the bottom half of the league. Burnley's goalkeeper tandem of James Trafford and Arijanet Muric played a critical in this style of play, as their combined total of 1826 passes exceeded that of any other Premier League team.

According to the data, Kompany led Burnley in a visually-appealing way of playing football, but it lacked the ability to score goals effectively. As a result, the team had a low expected goal score per shot in the league and struggled to create chances within the penalty area.

It's not always a bad thing for a head coach to experience relegation. As an example, Jurgen Klopp also experienced this during his time at Mainz. However, some supporters of Burnley FC might be questioning whether using a more practical strategy would have improved their chances of remaining in the Premier League.

During the 2022/23 soccer season, Steve Cooper attempted to adopt a more open and attacking strategy with Nottingham Forest. After experiencing a crushing defeat of 4-0 at the hands of Leicester City, he switched to a more defensive approach. This change eventually proved to be effective in enabling Forest to remain in the Premier League.

This season, Sean Dyche has implemented a playing style at Everton that is viewed by some fans as not enjoyable to watch. Regardless, the team has been able to maintain a comfortable position in the Premier League despite facing an eight-point deduction. If their striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, had been able to convert more chances, they would have been able to finish even higher on the table. Darwin Nunez of Liverpool was the only player with a bigger difference between the number of expected goals and actual goals scored than Calvert-Lewin. After winning against Liverpool 2-0, Dyche expressed his desire to play attractive football, but winning games was his top priority.

In the past few years, David Moyes' perceived unattractive style of football helped West Ham United win a European trophy and achieve their most fruitful period in the Premier League in quite some time.

Coach leaders are likely pondering the divergent paths of Vincent Kompany, who is on the verge of a major soccer position, versus David Moyes, who recently parted ways with West Ham United. Perhaps they're questioning whether playing attractive soccer is more valuable than securing victories.

Moyes and Dyche could be achieving victories in an unappealing manner, however, Kompany's attractive losses may be more advantageous for his profession.