One of football's most promising managers is back in the sport after Julian Nagelsmann was officially appointed Germany manager on Friday.
Die Mannschaft parted ways with predecessor Hansi Flick after a 4-1 friendly defeat to Japan earlier this month. Nagelsmann will now lead the Euro 2024 hosts at next year's continental competition, returning to employment six months after he was sacked by Bayern Munich.
Nagelsmann's 20-month spell at the Allianz Arena came to an end despite him leading the club into the Champions League quarter-finals and within a point of the Bundesliga summit. Instead, it's widely believed his blossoming relationship with Bild journalist Lena Wurzenberger was what urged the board to send him packing.
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The 36-year-old married childhood sweetheart Verena in 2018, and the pair have two children together. However, it was confirmed they were splitting up in 2022, around the same time it first emerged he was in a new relationship with Wurzenberger.
It was shortly after Nagelsmann's sacking that former Bayern and Liverpool defender and Euro 96-winner Markus Babbel backed up reports suggesting the club's higher-ups were not in favour of his new romance. Despite a generally impressive record in Bavaria – only Flick, Pep Guardiola and Carlo Ancelotti boast better than his 71.4% win rate at Bayern – certain members of the squad were afraid of their boss being so close to a member of the press.
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"I know his relationship with the Bild reporter is a huge topic in the dressing room," Babbel told Blick in March of this year. "It didn’t go over well at all that he was with her. His girlfriend was therefore a big problem for Bayern.
"There was a breach of trust because some players just weren’t able to communicate what they were thinking anymore because they were afraid that everything would end up in the newspaper."
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It counted for little in the end considering Wurzenberger stood down from her role on the Bild editorial team less than a month after his dismissal. She instead took up a new role with BMW, where she became the car manufacturer's 'spokeswoman for the supplier network and sustainability'.
That separation from the media might put certain players' minds at ease in case there were any lingering suspicions Nagelsmann could be a leak threat. However, there could be one or two of his former Bayern charges among the squad who need to mend some bridges in the coming months.
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