BERLIN
Arsene Wenger has not ruled himself out of the running for the vacant head coach role at Bayern Munich while Ralf Rangnick, another potential candidate, is reportedly not interested.
Wenger, 70, gave an evasive answer when broadcaster beIn Sports directly asked him about working at Bayern, who need a new head coach after Niko Kovac was dismissed on Sunday in the wake of Munich’s 5-1 drubbing at Eintracht Frankfurt.
Wenger, who speaks fluent German, coached Arsenal from October 1996 until May 2018 and admits he misses some aspects of coaching.
While Wenger has enjoyed his year away from football, the satisfaction of winning matches and preparing players are “something you miss, of course,” said the Frenchman.
Meanwhile, Ralf Rangnick, currently head of sport and development at Red Bull and the previous sports director at Bundesliga side RB Leipzig, is reportedly the latest big name to turn Bayern down.
“Ralf is not available. We don’t believe that what Ralf Rangnick is all about is currently being sought by Bayern,” Rangnick’s manager Marc Kosicke told German daily Bild.
“That why it doesn’t make sense to hold concrete talks.”
Rangnick joins Ajax coach Erik ten Hag and Paris Saint-Germain boss Thomas Tuchel, who have both stated that they will not leave their current jobs this season.
On Tuesday, club president Uli Hoeness said he expected to be able to name a new head coach by Bayern’s next away game at Fortuna Duesseldorf on November 23.
Former Real Madrid and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho and ex-Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri have so far also been linked to the job by the German media.
Former Germany assistant coach Hansi Flick has taken over as Bayern’s interim coach for Wednesday’s Champions League clash at home to Olympiakos and Saturday’s crunch league clash at home to second-placed Dortmund, with Bayern currently fourth in the table.