Speaking to Sky90, former Schalke director Rouven Schröder has revealed the club tried to hire Bayern Munich’s Vincent Kompany as their head coach.
During the Belgian’s time at Anderlecht, the now Borussia Mönchengladbach director Schröder made an attempt to bring him to the Ruhr.
On meeting and talking with the Bayern head coach, Schröder said:
“When he was at Anderlecht and we were looking for a coach at Schalke for the Bundesliga, I was simply tempted to talk to such a great player. He was also the Manchester City captain. That was one of the best conversations you can have with a coach. A young, up-and-coming coach. The door opens; he’s huge and superbly prepared. When you meet him, you notice: He has an incredible authority, a lightness. He is authentic.”
Adding:
“He explained what was on his mind and what he wanted to do for the preparation and follow-up. He had an incredible number of sheets, a PowerPoint presentation that really showed: ‘Here’s someone who plays football with passion, trains, and leads the way. And then there’s this multilingualism. You felt something there.”
However, despite the positive interaction with Kompany, it seemed like a deal would not be done. Schröder revealed why a deal was not possible:
“It was ultimately due to his large staff. We didn’t talk any further after that. It became clear relatively quickly that it wasn’t financially feasible. It simply didn’t fit into the budget. Several clubs were interested in him at the time. Whether we would have been awarded the contract is unclear.”
In the end, Schalke would hire Thomas Reis to lead them upon their Bundesliga return in 2022, that season, they would finish 17th and head immediately back to the 2.Bundesliga. While Kompany would move to Burnley, where he would spend two seasons, leading them to the Premier League before being relegated and heading to Bayern in the summer of 2024.
Borussia Mönchengladbach’s interest in the Bayern head coach:
Earlier this year, Schröder’s predecessor at Gladbach, Roland Virkus, revealed that the club also attempted to hire Kompany as their successor to Adi Hütter’s head coach position before appointing Daniel Farke in 2022.
Hertha Berlin has also been reported to have shown interest in the former Manchester City defender in the same summer that Gladbach and Schalke expressed interest in him.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
