Speaking to Sky Sport, former Bayern Munich coach Niko Kovač has admitted that the club apparently gave him an order to bench longtime fan-favorite Thomas Müller during his time at the Bavarian capital. For reference, Müller was only about thirty years old when Kovač was told to implement younger players in his position.
There has long been a conspiracy theory held by fans (one fan, at the very least) that Bayern Munich have long been trying to push Thomas Müller out of the club. Kovač tried first with James Rodriguez and, when the Colombian went back to Real Madrid, brought in Philippe Coutinho from FC Barcelona to try and keep Müller on the bench. He has since admitted that it was a mistake.
“Today, I think it was a mistake,” he said to Sky Sports (via @BayernSpace on Twitter). “He should have played much more, but when I started, there was an order to initiate a change and implement younger players—a generational shift. Looking back, I shouldn’t have done that.”
Whether it’s true or not, the fact that Kovač says he was ordered to initiate a generational shift away from Müller is damning for two reasons. First, it shows that he was never in charge of his own lineups during his time at the club, which goes to show why his stint failed in the end. Second, it lends credence to the idea that certain parts of the Bayern Munich board tried to get rid of Müller circa 2018/19, and they almost succeeded.
If you want to read up on why they tried to do what they did, why not grab a cup of coffee and check out this (conspiracy?) theory.
