Surprise at FC Bayern: Christoph Freund is to become the new sports director and has allegedly already signed his contract.
The stars of FC Bayern were sweating at the beautiful Tegernsee during circuit training when amazing things happened in the Munich management floor. Just 120 kilometers east of the Autobahn, directly behind the Austrian border, the German record champions are said to have found a surprising new sports director: Christoph Freund from Red Bull Salzburg.
Reported this personnel out of nowhere sky and the Picturenewspaper on Tuesday morning almost to the second in unison. sky According to the report, the 46-year-old is to take office as the successor to the dismissed Hasan Salihamidzic on September 1st. The table football joined the report – it can be considered secure, even if the club was initially unable to get any confirmation.
Christoph Freund himself is still very busy under the ideal Austrian conditions at the nucleus of Red Bull football. It was only on Monday that he enthused the fans of the permanent champion, what a nice parallel, about the advantages of the Danish newcomer Mads Bistrup (“absolute mentality player”) – soon he could be holding new jerseys in Munich with much bigger stars in the camera.
Christoph Freund, who as a player did not make it past the second division of his homeland, and Salzburg are almost synonymous. He has been working there as sports director for eight years. In 2015 he succeeded Ralf Rangnick in this function, who is now the Austrian national coach. For another nine years, starting in 2006, Freund was sports coordinator and team manager in Salzburg. Newspapers call him “mastermind” – albeit under laboratory conditions with excellent financial resources.
In an interview with SPOX and GOAL Freund explained in November 2020 how Salzburg was able to advance to become one of the best player and coach development clubs in Europe under his leadership.
Christoph Freund: He knows three Bayern stars from Salzburg
Time and time again, the Salzburg team has attracted highly talented players early on and led up-and-coming world stars onto the springboard. The last example of such a rocket-like development is Erling Haaland, who after the Borussia Dortmund instantaneous heating station is now the Champions League winner with Manchester City. Dayot Upamecano, Sadio Mane and Konrad Laimer from the current Bayern squad used to be in Salzburg, Naby Keita has just switched from Liverpool to Werder Bremen. Karim Adeyemi (Dortmund) is now a German international.
Often, that is: very often, Red Bull Salzburg, which itself keeps FC Liefering as a farm team, is a supplier for the German sister club RB Leipzig, which was also raised in a test tube. What is always smiled at by the fans: yes, those were certainly tough negotiations.
Freund, already courted by Chelsea FC and Eintracht Frankfurt, who is considered a strong puller, would therefore have to face a new reality. On the other hand, the Bavarians had problems integrating their own growth for years, they preferred to grab the higher shelf. So that might fit.
Freund should become a sports director, specifically not a sports director. With his commitment as a squad planner, a higher-level, even more strategic post, for example for Max Eberl (RB Leipzig!), who has been hotly traded for a long time, would by no means be ruled out.
With the start of the contract on September 1, Freund would only have a background influence on the squad for the coming season. Coach Thomas Tuchel, board member Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Marco Neppe are courting Harry Kane, Tottenham Hotspur’s star striker. Tuchel had already more than indicated the imminent arrival of central defender Min-Jae Kim (SSC Napoli), the transfer should be completed in the coming days.
