Bayern Munich have agreed a three-year deal with Vincent Kompany to take over as head coach.
A fee of £10.2m will be paid to Burnley to bring the 38-year-old to the Allianz Arena, where he will succeed Thomas Tuchel in the top job. The Bundesliga club failed in their attempts to convince the German to stay after a run to the Champions League semi-finals and were forced to search elsewhere for a replacement.
Kompany, who began his managerial career at Anderlecht, earned a big reputation after joining Burnley two years ago. The former Manchester City defender took the Championship by storm, earning rave reviews after turning a defensive side into a thrilling attacking team, and led Burnley back into the Premier League at the first time of asking.
There were hopes that Burnley could succeed at the highest level by sticking to their progressive style of play but a failure to reinforce his squad led to a 19th-placed finish and relegation. Allowing Kompany to make a swift departure will give Burnley time to find the right replacement as they gear up for another promotion campaign.
There will be raised eyebrows at Kompany earning such a big job. Equally there is a feeling that the 38-year-old’s methods could work well with a side at the top level. Kompany has experience of living in Germany after representing Hamburg during his hugely successful playing career.
He did a great job with Burnley getting promoted from the Championship. But then they got immediately relegated from the Premier League, finishing 19th out of 20 (in a season where two of their relegation rivals took points deductions) and looking pretty out of their league most of the season. He’s falling upwards.