“Then he kept it a secret”

Julian Nagelsmann emphasizes that he was a Bayern fan since he was a child – but because of his past in 1860, he last experienced suspicion from some FCB supporters.

Julian Nagelsmann took it calmly. He overheard the foul chants of some Bayern supporters who insulted him in the friendly against Ajax last Saturday in the Allianz Arena because of his past with city rivals 1860 Munich.

“Nagelsmann, you pig, back to TSV!” They shouted. “How you express yourself, everyone has to deal with their conscience,” said the new FC Bayern Munich coach afterwards at the press conference: “You can’t make everyone happy. You just have to be able to do certain things.”

Nagelsmann emphasized that it was clear to him that not every FCB fan liked the fact that he had spent several years of his footballing life with the Lions. Just as he has emphasized several times since his move from RB Leipzig to Säbener Straße became known that he had already kept his fingers crossed for FC Bayern as a child and teenager.

Nevertheless, Nagelsmann’s time at 1860 was one of the biggest topics around the German record champions in the past few days because of the offensive nuances. But what exactly was the 34-year-old’s time with the Blues from the Bavarian capital?

Julian Nagelsmann: At 14 in 1860 Munich

In 2002, as a 14-year-old, Nagelsmann moved from FC Augsburg to the offspring of the sixties. There he was part of a very strong 1987 class around Stefan Aigner (126 Bundesliga games for Bielefeld and Frankfurt) or the later national players Christian Träsch (Germany) and Fabian Johnson (USA). Julian Baumgartlinger (with Bayer Leverkusen since 2016) was born in 1988.

Nagelsmann played in central defense, in the U19 he formed a strong duo with the Canadian Kent O’Connor. The latter was more responsible for the rough, the then U19 coach Claus Schromm recalls aloud Süddeutscher Zeitung – and Nagelsmann was primarily responsible for setting up the game: “A strategist who understood the game back then,” emphasizes Schromm.

Nagelsmann got on particularly well with Träsch at the time. The two of them were roommates at the 60 boarding school and graduated from high school together. “He was a great kicker back then, who knows what would have become of him if he hadn’t had to quit because of his health problems,” said Träsch von Sport1 quoted.

Coach Schromm also believes that Nagelsmann could have made it into the professional field as a player, and is not surprised that he became a coach instead: “You can see whether a player is thinking about the game. Whether what is important to him you train how you train. How you let play. Why you let play that way. “

Julian Nagelsmann in 1860: Derby victories against Sandro Wagner

In his two U19 years, Nagelsmann was fourth in the south / south-west relay of the A-Junior Bundesliga with the 60-year-olds. A photo of him and his future player in Hoffenheim, Sandro Wagner, from a derby at 1860 against the FC Bayern offspring, has already made the rounds several times on social networks. Incidentally, Nagelsmann and Co. won that city duel in February 2006 with 3: 2.

A few months later, Nagelsmann made the jump to the second team of the then second division club, but injury problems were already giving him a lot of trouble at that time. He suffered meniscus damage and many other chronic physical problems.

After a year without a job at 1860 II, he tried again in the summer of 2007 to switch to the second team at FC Augsburg, where he also had to struggle with persistent knee problems. At the beginning of 2008, Nagelsmann ended his active career at the age of just 20.

Alexander Schmidt, today’s coach of the second division Dynamo Dresden, brought him back to 1860 a few months later and made Nagelsmann his assistant coach in the U17. “It was already evident at the time that Julian is simply a clever, smart guy, has a good understanding of football and has his heart in the right place,” said Schmidt of his former assistant. He himself was promoted to U19 coach in 2009, Nagelsmann initially stayed with the U17.

When in November 2009 both Schmidts U19 and U17 from Nagelsmann and the new head coach Ivica Erceg won their derby against their big neighbor from Säbener Straße, they went to the Zugspitze to celebrate the victories to ski together ride. Schmidt reveals loudly that Nagelsmann’s heart beats for FC Bayern at the time SZ. If it had been like that, “he kept it a secret.”

Julian Nagelsmann at 1860 Munich: “He was an entertainer”

Meanwhile, Ivica Erceg remembers that Nagelsmann was already known back then for being very eloquent outside of the field and for making one or two cheeky sayings. “We had an away trip from Munich to Freiburg that lasted six hours. It felt like he entertained the boys for four hours, in the front of the bus driver’s microphone. He was an entertainer,” he says.

In his two co-coaching years with the Löwen U17, Nagelsmann was third in the B-Junioren-Bundesliga Süd / Südwest. He helped train players like Kevin Volland, Bobby Wood and Moritz Leitner at the time. The latter remembers a “tactical fox who could spend hours discussing with our coach Alex Schmidt how we should play best.” But he also emphasizes: “He has his very own sense of humor, his sayings were already subject to a gun license back then.”

In 2010, Nagelsmann left the Löwen as a coach, switched to TSG Hoffenheim and initially became assistant coach of the U17s. “I wasn’t at sixty the day before yesterday,” he was rightly saying last time.

And after the first successes at the latest, the last FCB fans will probably also take him to their hearts.