Bayern set to raid Chelsea for Tuchel favourite

Stuart Telford

• 25 Mar 2023 20:14 GMT
• 3 min read

Thomas Tuchel's feet are barely under his desk at Bayern Munich, but already the new manager is preparing to raid his former club Chelsea for talent.

Tuchel was appointed new Bayern head coach on Friday following the shock dismissal of Julian Nagelsmann, and he will face his former employers Borussia Dortmund in the first game after the international break.

Tuchel was victim of his own surprise dismissal last September, Chelsea owner Todd Boehly having backed him in the transfer market for players like Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang before dismissing him days later, with Graham Potter appointed in his stead.

READ: How Bayern's Tuchel appointment messes up Man Utd's transfer plans

Tuchel gave his first press conference as Bayern manager on Saturday, and made it clear he planned to plunder Chelsea - the team he led to Champions League glory in 2021 - for resources.

"My coaching staff wasn't prepared either, so a big thank you to their families for their flexibility," Tuchel said of his surprise appointment, reportedly made with Bayern worried about Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur moving for him at the end of the season.

"Arno Michels and Zsolt Low, who have been working with me for over 10 years, will be there. We're hoping to add Anthony Barry, who is currently at Chelsea."

READ: Nagelsmann In: Chelsea given perfect Potter replacement

Who is Anthony Barry?

Barry is currently Potter's assistant at Chelsea, the same role he had under Tuchel having originally been appointed by Frank Lampard in 2020. He now also helped Roberto Martinez with the Belgium national team.

Barry was the first student at England's St George's Park to have course research published as an academic journal, and it speaks to the regard he is held in that he has been kept on by two Chelsea managers after Lampard.

"For my study we analysed a full Premier League season of throw-ins - 17,000 of them - with data scientists," he told the Telegraph last year.

"You could see the impact of the work Liverpool did with [Thomas] Gronnemark and now it is a trend which has caught on across football."