Thomas Tuchel admits that he was “dumbstruck” after he was offered and appointed as the new head coach of Bayern Munich following the sacking of Julian Nagelsmann.

Nagelsmann was fired after only his second season in charge of Bayern. Tuchel, who is 49 years old, was given a contract that lasts until 2025.

Nagelsmann was fired by the six-time European champions on Friday. The club was second in the Bundesliga, and Nagelsmann had led them to the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Tuchel was fired by Chelsea in September, even though he led the team to the Champions League title in 2021. On Tuesday night, he talked to Bayern bosses.

“Believe me or not, I was a bit dumbstruck in the first 30 seconds of our first discussion,” Tuchel told reporters.

“I didn’t know what we were talking about. It became clear that it was for right now.

“I was completely surprised. The timing was surprising. There was no contact beforehand,” the former Paris Saint-Germain boss added.

Tuchel has a reputation for being sometimes rude, and he wants full support from his employers. This has caused problems at both Chelsea and PSG.

Hasan Salihamidzic, Bayern’s director of sports, defended the decision to get rid of Nagelsmann, who was 35 years old, and said that the decision to hire Tuchel wasn’t made in a hurry.

“The situation between the coach and the team no longer worked,” Salihamidzic said.

“We came to the conclusion that we needed a coach like this, who has gained a lot of experience, also abroad.

“On Tuesday evening we met and had a very good conversation. He was very excited from the first second,” the former Bayern player added.

Photo by EPA/Anna Szilagyi