Vincent Kompany plays down Man City links after Bayern Munich boss tipped to replace Pep Guardiola

In his maiden season in Munich, Kompany helped Bayern regain the Bundesliga title after they lost it to Bayer Leverkusen during the 2023-24 campaign. In the current season, Kompany oversaw a blistering start for the Bavarian side, who are currently enjoying a rich vein of form across all competitions. 

In the Bundesliga, they sit at the top of the table with 34 points from 12 matches, having won 11 and drawn one. Their most recent league outing saw them thrash Freiburg 6-2 at the Allianz Arena, with goals coming from Lennart Karl, a brace from Michael Olise, Dayot Upamecano, Harry Kane, and Nicolas Jackson. Their Champions League campaign has been equally impressive. They enjoyed a flawless record until their last fixture against Arsenal, where they lost 3-1 and suffered their first defeat of the season. 

Kompany has received praise from club president Uli Hoeness as the Bayern chief claimed that the Belgian would one day replace Guardiola at Etihad Stadium. Speaking at the recent ‘Power Days’ business event, Hoeness said: "Kompany learned a lot from Pep Guardiola. When [sporting director] Max Eberl suggested Kompany as the third or fourth option, Karl-Heinz [Rummenigge] and I called Pep Guardiola, with whom we are both very good friends, and asked him. Pep said, ‘You can take him blindly, he’s a fantastic coach, he’ll even take over Man City someday when I’m no longer there.'"

Speaking about the links to his former club and Hoeness' comment, Kompany said: "I've often said, I'm not here to comment on Uli Hoeness' statements. I have huge respect for him. But in football I can't think that far ahead, my focus is on Bayern and what we can achieve now. I like to just live in the world I have in front of me now, that takes up all my time. I have zero thoughts about other teams, I only see FC Bayern."

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Bayern's sensational form has gone down a bit in the past couple of weeks as some key errors have been noticed in their matches of late. Against Freiburg, Bayern conceded two early goals before coming back from the setback to score six and pick up a thumping win in the end. Then came the 3-1 drubbing at the hands of Arsenal in the Champions League.

Kompany, however, is not too worried about the drop in form as he told reporters: "We started the season by scoring three goals in the first 20 minutes. It was to be expected that it would change. But falling behind is something we're working on, putting a greater focus on. I still think it's normal circumstances but if it starts to become a pattern, we'll have to work on breaking through that. But the last 20 games we've usually led 3-0 after 20 minutes, that's been the case much more often."

After helping the club win back the Bundesliga title last season, Kompany now aims to win the DFB Pokal too, a trophy that Bayern have not won since 2020. Ahead of the club's  DFB Pokal round of 16 clash against Union Berlin on Wednesday, the Belgian coach said: "At the end of the season, we'd like to have this pressure again, even more. We want to put in a good performance and win - we're prepared for anything, for 90 minutes or another 30. It's positive pressure. You can always say you want to win everything -- but it takes work and attitude. If we show tomorrow how hungry we are for the final, then we have a good chance."