Thomas Tuchel is not interested in speculation about his successor at Bayern Munich, saying he will set his headphones to “noise-cancelling mode” to shut out talk of Ralf Rangnick talking his place.
Tuchel will leave Bayern after just one full season at the helm, having suffered the ignominy of overseeing their first failure to capture the Bundesliga crown since 2012.
Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen clinched the title with five matches to play and are still unbeaten in all competitions this term, targeting a Bundesliga, Europa League and DFB-Pokal treble.
After Alonso reaffirmed his commitment to Leverkusen and Julian Nagelsmann penned a long-term contract to remain as Germany boss, Bayern have been working their way down a list of targets to replace Tuchel.
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Former Manchester United interim boss Rangnick is the latest man to be linked with the role, having led Austria to Euro 2024 qualification in impressive fashion since leaving Old Trafford.
Tuchel was asked about Rangnick at a press conference on Friday, ahead of Bayern facing Eintracht Frankfurt on Saturday, but he gave the question short shrift.
“This question is like the neighbour that is noisy at three in the morning, if we’re honest!” Tuchel said.
“I’ll set my headphones to noise-cancelling mode and ignore that. This topic won’t help me tomorrow and won’t help me on Tuesday – it is not my topic.”
Big smiles from today’s winning team 💪😁#MiaSanMia pic.twitter.com/kz0Gfi72mn
— FC Bayern Munich (@FCBayernEN) April 24, 2024
Bayern face Real Madrid in the first leg of the teams’ Champions League semi-final tie on Tuesday, but Tuchel denied the Bavarian giants will have one eye on that contest this weekend.
“We can’t use this game against Frankfurt to practice for Real, it’s a completely different situation,” he said.
“There will be some background noise against both Frankfurt and Stuttgart, that’s just how it is. Nevertheless, we will fully focus on these two opponents.
“We have to accept the background noise. We want to put in a great performance tomorrow because we need the points and want to keep up our momentum. We’re taking things step by step.”
