There has never been a management hiring race like this one. Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Liverpool, Juventus and Chelsea, five of the biggest football clubs, are all looking for a new coach or head coach during the same short period of time.
Manchester United, who won the FA Cup by beating Manchester City 2-1 in the final played on Saturday at Wembley Stadium in London. (stream a replay on ESPN+), could soon join the crowded field of European giants looking to hire a new manager. Minority owner Ineos is carrying out an end-of-season review that may lead to the departure of Erik ten Hag after just two seasons at the helm.
Liverpool completed their search for a successor to Jürgen Klopp by confirming the appointment of Feyenoord manager Arne Slot last week. But having initially explored the possibility of signing Xabi Alonso before being told their former midfielder would remain at Bayer Leverkusen, Liverpool sources told ESPN that Slot's signing came at the end of a process undertaken in a “challenging market.”
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Senior Bayern officials would echo that sentiment. Germany's biggest club, a six-time Champions League winner, has previously been a top destination for football's elite managers including Louis van Gaal, Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti and Thomas Tuchel. When Bayern calls, nobody says no. Until now.
Sources told ESPN that Bayern are close to naming Vincent Kompany as Tuchel's successor, having agreed a compensation package with the Belgian coach's current employer, Burnley. But the former Manchester City captain is at best Bayern's fourth choice for the job, but could even be considered their sixth or seventh choice.
Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick rejected a move to Bayern, while former Brighton & Hove Albion coach Roberto De Zerbi, former Bayern coach Hansi Flick and former Benfica player Roger Schmidt were considered by the club. Talks with Tuchel about reconsidering the plan to part ways also took place before both parties stuck to Plan A of ending their working relationship.
Meanwhile, in Spain, sources told ESPN that Barcelona are on track to sign Flick in the coming days to replace Xavi Hernandez, who announced mid-season that he would leave this summer before changing his mind in April. Barça then decided to sack Xavi last week, despite spending months evaluating potential successors (Flick, Alonso, De Zerbi, Sporting CP's Rúben Amorim) and struggling to find the right appointment.
Juventus appear to have a plan to replace Massimiliano Allegri with Thiago Motta, who is leaving Bologna, barring a possible late transfer from AC Milan. Chelsea have taken a week to find a successor to Mauricio Pochettino, and sources have told ESPN that the Blues have moved closer to opening talks with Enzo Maresca after he led Leicester City back to the Premier League. United, if they sack Ten Hag, have also spent months looking at potential candidates, but sources said they are yet to decide whether any of them are a fit and whether they will be a better option than Ten Hag.
So why is the managerial market becoming so difficult to navigate, especially for those clubs that usually get what they want and quickly? One important factor is the growing influence of sporting directors, the executives charged by club owners with managing the football side of the operation. The days when clubs were dominated by the relationship between president and coach are long gone.
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“Soccer clubs are moving away from generalists toward specialists,” Steven Houston, head of sports operations and strategic consulting at Sportsology Group, told ESPN. “Sports operations are now so large that clubs are creating expert groups with many areas of specialization and responsibility, such as sporting director, technical director, analysis director, performance director, head coach.
“Therefore, it is crucial to identify the right head coach who is comfortable with the responsibility of leading the team, improving players, generating results and at the same time accepting the roles of others. Some of the coaches may not be compatible with the vision set by the owner or sports director.
“Clubs should have their non-negotiables on what a coach should be prepared to fit in, such as playing style, young player development, communication skills and that allows them to move quickly and narrow down the field of candidates.
“But we always say they need to have a Plan A, B, C, D and E because availability plays a big role in recruiting in a specific time frame.”
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Recent successes are becoming a determining factor for many clubs in the search for a new coach. Ten Hag was signed by United two years ago after winning the Eredivisie with Ajax; Slot moves to Liverpool just 12 months after doing the same with Feyenoord. Motta tops the list at Juventus after guiding Bologna to the Champions League, while Kompany's success in winning promotion to the Premier League with Burnley in 2023 appears to carry more weight at Bayern than his relegation at Turf Moor this season.
Those managers who were successful in earlier times (José Mourinho and Antonio Conte, for example) have proven to be less attractive to those clubs looking for a manager with a recent winning pedigree, as well as a willingness to work within a structure led by a sports director or football director.
It is emerging coaches, such as Ipswich Town's Slot, Motta, Amorim and Kieran McKenna, who are the new top targets, rather than older coaches whose tenure has generally been broader than those now making their way into the ranks. club structures led by a sports director. And that goes some way to explaining why clubs take longer to schedule a designation and why they work with shortlists rather than simply identifying a target.
“With duration of the mandate [for coaches] declining, clubs should always have a succession plan in the background,” Houston said. “They have large scouting departments constantly looking for players to fill every position, so it would make sense for them to do the same with coaches. The more background knowledge you have, the faster you can move forward and make a hire.”
Liverpool have their man, and Bayern and Barcelona seem to have finally got theirs, but neither of those clubs have found it easy to change managers. Yes, it is a difficult market with so many competitors who want the same thing, but the clubs are also being more selective.
It is no longer simply a matter of finding the coach with the most titles and trophies. Now they have to tick many more boxes to convince a club to sign them.
