- Craig Bellamy has been Vincent Kompany’s assistant for the past five years
- The Belgian will take charge of Bayern Munich despite Burnley’s relegation
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Craig Bellamy will not join Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich as the Burnley boss is set to become the Bundesliga giants’ new boss.
Kompany is set to move to the Bundesliga giants despite the 38-year-old overseeing Burnley’s relegation from the Premier League and having won just five games all season.
The ex-Wales international was Kompany’s assistant for five years. He joined his former Man City teammate at Anderlecht and followed him to Burnley.
Together the pair helped engineer a hugely impressive Championship campaign in 2022-23, with Burnley returning to the top flight as champions with 101 points, although their inexperienced young side found themselves out of trouble this season.
However, Mail Sport can exclusively reveal that Bellamy will not be joining Bayern, where Kompany will take charge.
Craig Bellamy will not join Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich as the ex-Manchester City defender prepares to succeed Thomas Tuchel
Kompany and Bellamy were teammates at Man City before working together in the dugout
In Bayern’s search for Thomas Tuchel’s successor, Xabi Alonso, former head coach Julian Nagelsmann and ex-Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick, among others, have turned down the role.
The German giants had even tried to entice Tuchel to stay after he announced his departure three months ago, but those U-turn talks failed to change their minds.
Bayern have turned to Kompany and held talks with Burnley chairman Alan Pace on Wednesday over a compensation payment, hoping to finalize a deal in the coming days.
It is because Bayern itself is also looking to bounce back from a disappointing season.
The Bavarian titans ended the season without any success, despite Harry Kane’s 44 goals in all competitions, and their next managerial appointment will undoubtedly be crucial.
As such, bringing in a manager with no experience at a top-level club could be seen as risky, if not exciting and daring, by many fans.
The Burnley board had placed a lot of faith in the Belgian and handed over a significant amount of power to him – especially in the recruitment department.
He had spent more than £90 million on new players this season, although those reinforcements could not stem the flow of defeats as Burnley won just five games in the 2023/2024 season.
Kompany was unable to keep Burnley in the Premier League after the club’s first season in the top flight
Bayern Munich have also had a difficult campaign, but still finished in third place in the Bundesliga
The club will obviously be hoping to return to the top flight at the next available opportunity, and Bellamy spoke earlier this season about how he believed his strikers would certainly develop into top-quality Premier League stars.
The former Welsh international was relegated at Coventry less than a year after they bought him for £6million in 2000, before recovering to win trophies with Celtic and Liverpool.
“It was hard,” Bellamy said. ‘I was a waste of money. And the following year I was the PFA Young Player of the Year in Newcastle. So it can change.
‘We have players with inexperience who will improve enormously. They will be top players in the Premier League.’
