Bayern Munich are set to re-appoint 72-year-old Jupp Heynckes as their new manager in the coming days, bringing the former West Germany boss for his fourth spell at the club.
Heynckes retired from management after leading the Bavarians to their first league, cup and European Cup treble at the end of the 2012/13 season, but German outlet Bild reports that Bayern have convinced the veteran manager – who has won three Bundesliga titles with the club – to come in and bring back the club glory days until the end of the season following Carlo Ancelotti’s sacking.
The decorated German boss won his first German title as a manager with the club back in 1989, following a playing career which saw the former Bayern boss lift the trophy four times with Borussia Monchengladbach in the 70s – along with World Cup and European Championship titles with West Germany.
Heynckes’ managerial career took him manager a number of clubs in La Liga, including Real Madrid where he won his first European Cup, and a brief spell in Portugal with Benfica.
It was in Germany where he spent the bulk of his 34-year managerial career though, managing Monchengladbach for the best part of a season before making the move to Bavaria in 1987 for the first of two wildly successful spells – his other time at the club coming in a five-game caretaker spell in 2009.
Bayern sit five points behind league leaders Borussia Dortmund after throwing away consecutive 2-0 leads against Wolfsburg and Hertha Berlin, that pair of draws sandwiching the 3-0 humiliation in the Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain which led to Ancelotti’s early exit.
They will be back in action in the Bundesliga when they welcome SC Freiburg at the Allianz Arena on 14 October and will be hoping to get back to their winning ways against the newly promoted side.