How Julian Nagelsmann built his reputation as a new young talent

He wears makeup to press conferences, idolizes John Terry, comes to practice on his skateboard and rides out on his motorcycle. And although Julian Nagelsmann was sacked by Bayern Munich and replaced by Thomas Tuchel on his day off skiing in the Alps on Thursday, he could be at Tottenham by the end of the week to take over from Antonio Conte if he really wants the abrupt career change without a break , to digest the manic nature of the past week.

The availability of the vegetarian 35-year-old, the favorite coach for Gen X hipsters everywhere, has fallen into the lap of Spurs chairman Daniel Levy. He was the man he wanted to replace in 2021 to replace Jose Mourinho only to find Bayern far ahead of the game and had him tied for the following season.

At that time he was the man everyone wished for, but at the age of 28 with Hoffenheim he became the youngest coach in Bundesliga history, whom he saved from relegation with a great end of the season. He led that team into the Champions League, was interviewed for the job at Arsenal to replace Arsene Wenger, but the board felt nominating a 31-year-old for such a job was a step too far and ended up at RB Leipzig, which he took over to a Champions League semi-final – he lost to Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain – and finished second in the Bundesliga.

What to do with your Bayern career is puzzling. They won the Bundesliga last year (quite normal) and despite the recent poor form (in Bayern terms that means eight wins and two losses in the last 10) they are in a clash with Borussia Dortmund in which the two teams meet in one game , which will be billed as a title decider next Saturday. They have an excellent record in the Champions League this season and will meet Manchester City in the quarter-finals, despite losing to Villarreal at that point last season.

He’s always attracted attention, once confidently chatting at a press conference about how plucked eyebrows and makeup made his droopy eyes look better. “Women are always allowed to look good, so I thought that you can do that as a man, too,” he said.

Julian Nagelsmann could replace Antonio Conte as Tottenham’s new manager

Spurs manager Conte is facing sacking after a bizarre outburst at Tottenham last weekend

Nagelsmann himself was recently sacked by Bayern Munich and replaced by Thomas Tuchel (centre).

As a millennial coach, he should be the ideal man to connect with young players. “I want to be the same Julian off-duty as the Julian on the court, so I don’t think about the headlines when I want to get out of bed in the morning and ride my skateboard,” he said.

And yet there’s just that touch of the intolerant hippie about him. All outer signifiers say something chilled, serene. Still, he’s obsessed and demands tactical discipline, with some Bayern players privately suggesting he’s overcomplicating the game.

Joshua Kimmich, the Bayern captain, spoke fondly of him last week upon learning of his sacking. But he failed to work with the squad. He fell out with the veterans Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer, who is older than the coach. And he never really wowed Gen X players.

But any manager who leaves his wife for the reporter covering Bayern Munich for the Bild Zeitung, Germany’s equivalent of The Sun, will have trouble building trust in a dressing room.

Nagelsmann didn’t manage to convince the players and fit in with the squad during his time in Germany

Nagelsmann was the man Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy wanted to replace Jose Mourinho

Eyebrows were raised – and not necessarily raised ones – when his relationship with Lena Wurzenberger was revealed, appropriately in Bild himself. She has since left the role. But it’s quite revealing to find out that your coach literally shared a bed with the reporter tasked with finding the secrets of the dressing rooms for Germany’s best-selling and most aggressive newspaper.

Another trait of Nagelsmann is his admiration for English football and Terry. When I spoke to him in Munich last year, he was adamant about his most influential player. “When I was a youth player, I played along [team-mate] Christian Trasch and he always called me John Terry – “Johnny” – because I was a central defender. John Terry was one of the best central defenders in those days. There was a season when he didn’t lose a single duel. He was bold with his head, that was the main theme for me.’

It led to a comical situation when RB Leipzig played Aston Villa in a friendly when Terry was manager there and Nagelsmann tried to explain to Terry that he was his childhood hero.

“He looked at me funny,” said Nagelsmann. “But he was kind of a role model because he was a great centre-back and loved defending. And it’s a very important topic for me and my players – when I talk to a defender, I say: “Your name is defender, first of all you have to defend.”

Former Chelsea defender and captain John Terry was Nagelsmann’s growing up hero

What Spurs will get is a similar level of positional obsession as Conte, but with a much greater focus on possession and a crucial intent to get the ball up front quickly. “I want short distances between the players because when you have possession of the ball you can switch games very quickly, the ball moves very quickly and that shows the direction [sets the tone] for the most important issue is counter-pressing. I only think about winning the games, not avoiding mistakes.

“When we see the space we try to speed up the game, have some counterattacks after your possession. And if you lose the ball, be very, very aggressive in counter-pressing. But when you have possession, it’s always about finding a good position behind the ball, very narrow gaps between team-mates. If you have a philosophy of possession, you have to be very good at counter-pressing. If you have the ball and are worse in counter-pressing, then you get one counterattack after the other, create a lot of chances and the games become very tiring.”

On the plus side, Spurs now have a chance to recruit a man who could well be a generational talent. The question mark would be if he’s a little Ralf Rangnick – great at building teams with hungry players willing to accept his tactical structures at young, disruptive clubs like Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, but less so at the stars of traditional clubs are at home.

But whether Nagelsmann is ready to jump from the frying pan to the fire so quickly remains the crucial question.