Julian Nagelsmann is reportedly not averse to a spectacular return
Julian Nagelsmann can apparently envisage a return to his former club.
According to Sky, the 39-year-old is not ruling out a return as RB Leipzig head coach. Nagelsmann has long been seen as a possible successor to Martin Demichelis, whose start to the season with the Saxony side has fallen short of expectations, leaving them only ninth in the Bundesliga table.
Following the disappointing World Cup in North America, the DFB parted company with Nagelsmann as Germany head coach.
When had Julian Nagelsmann already coached RB Leipzig?
That would also take him back to familiar surroundings. Between 2019 and 2021, Nagelsmann took charge of the Saxony side in 95 competitive matches, led the club to the Champions League semi-finals and to the runners-up spot.
Recently, DFB director Rudi Völler told Bild he was convinced Nagelsmann would soon take over a top team again: "Julian will catch his breath a little, calm down. And then he will quickly take over an absolute top team again, I have no doubt about that."
On Wednesday, Sport Bild described the rumours of a possible Nagelsmann return to Leipzig as baseless. A day later, however, Sky took a different line. According to the report, Nagelsmann is part of Leipzig's thinking, should they part company with Demichelis. Oliver Mintzlaff in particular, chairman of the supervisory board of RB Leipzig and CEO of Red Bull, is said to be an advocate of Nagelsmann, who still enjoys a good reputation within the RB cosmos.
For now, though, Leipzig's hierarchy want to stick with Demichelis, according to the report. Head of Soccer Roger Schmidt, successor to Jürgen Klopp, who took over the Germany head coach role from Nagelsmann, is still said to be urging calm internally for the time being.
During the international break, managing director for sport Marcel Schäfer also publicly backed the Argentine: "A newly assembled team needs time to find itself and develop routines. That is the reality."
Still, Demichelis probably does not have much time left to convince the club's hierarchy of his approach. October should offer important clues about his future. The Argentine is trying to get Leipzig playing more attractive football, which was exactly the criticism recently aimed at predecessor Ole Werner. At the same time, communication is making his job harder: in an extremely international squad, Demichelis mainly speaks German and Spanish and only a little English.
Only in the summer did Demichelis take over Leipzig after the club surprisingly parted company with Werner. He had previously led RB back into the Champions League.
After the long international break, Demichelis and Leipzig now face a daunting run of fixtures: first, two home wins against Eintracht Frankfurt and PSV Eindhoven are a must, before away games against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid follow, two matches of the very highest class.
