The 56-year-old led the Bavarians to Champions League glory last year while his second Bundesliga title with the club is now just a few match days away.
“The situation is I told the team today that I informed the club during the week that I wanted to get out of my contract at the end of the season,”
Flick told Sky Germany.
Although his contract runs until 2023, Flick has been reportedly involved in a power struggle with Bayern’s sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic since the beginning of the 2020/21 season. And the news arrived at a time when Flick himself is being seen as the next German boss with Joachim Lowe leaving the role after a decade.
But Flick denied those rumours and added:
“The future is absolutely not clear, there have been no discussions regarding that. Obviously the [German] FA is an option which every coach has to think about. But this is independent of that. I decided to take this step.”
Flick joined his former club as an assistant manager under Niko Kovac in 2019. Following the Croat’s departure four months later, he was handed the managerial position until the end of the season.
That decision changed the Bavarians’ fate, as the club went on to win everything coming their way, a sextuple actually. The first time in the club’s history. As a result, Flick was handed a new three-year deal in 2020.
But the situation is different this year. Lack of new acquisitions in transfer windows led the manager to express his frustration, and the quarter-final loss to Paris Saint Germain in the Champions League hasn’t helped either.
“The reasons aren’t important to us, this was an emotional story for all of us because we had such a successful time. It was especially important for him to tell us personally.”
said Manuel Neuer, the first player to react.
“He didn’t give us the exact reasons, and he didn’t have to. He spent a lot of energy in the intense past year and a half. To be a coach at FC Bayern, you need thick skin. The expectations are very high and you always have to stand by your team.”
Thomas Mueller stated.
