Explained: Why Zinedine Zidane won’t take charge of Harry Kane & Co at Bayern Munich – with club legend working in Argentina tipped to succeed Thomas Tuchel

The German giants have known since February that they will require a new manager for next season, with Thomas Tuchel announcing his intention to step down in the summer. Change is on the cards as Bayern have surrendered the Bundesliga crown to Bayer Leverkusen and have left the Champions League – where they are due to meet Real Madrid in the semi-finals – as their only route to silverware in 2024.

Various names have been linked with Bayern, from Xabi Alonso to Jose Mourinho, and there has been talk of World Cup winner Zidane agreeing to take the reins. Hamann, though, doubts that the iconic Frenchman will be appointed, with there a former fan favourite at the Allianz Arena currently impressing with River Plate that may be a better option to lead the club into a new era.

Ex-Bayern star Hamann, speaking in association with Freebets.com, has told GOAL when asked who will be calling the shots in 2024-25: “They have said that they want someone who speaks English. They don’t need to speak German, but they need to speak English. Apparently Zidane doesn’t speak any English, so that’s him out of the equation. I would give that a miss. There is talk about [Martin] Demichelis now, who is doing well in Argentina – former player, managed the second team at Bayern Munich until three seasons ago. There is still talk about [Roberto] De Zerbi. I would probably lean towards Demichelis at the moment. But they have got to make a decision at some stage because the players you bring in want to know who the manager is. There are a lot of people talking in Munich. Sometimes you can talk about things for too long and you can find positives and negatives about anybody and everybody. At some stage, someone has to make a call. They have got to the stage where they have to make a decision and commit to somebody. Whether it works out or not, you only know when they are there.”

Zidane has been out of work since bringing his second spell in charge of Real to a close in 2021. De Zerbi is currently tied to Premier League side Brighton, while Demichelis is working on a contract at River until 2025. Bayern are expected to make a big future call soon, though, as they want to lift the cloud of uncertainty that is doing nobody any favours.