Real Madrid made an approach but it wasn’t the right time to switch, reveals Julian Naglesmann
RB Leipzig head coach Julian Naglesmann has admitted that Real Madrid approached him two years ago to become their head coach but he turned them down as he believed he wasn’t ready. The former Hoffenheim boss is considered to be a rising star in the managerial world with him thriving at Leipzig.
While he has stormed to the top with RB Leipzig this season, Julian Naglesmann made history when Hoffenheim appointed him as their manager in 2016 and the German became the youngest ever Bundesliga coach at 28. However, his tactics combined with the fact that he transformed a myriad of players into a good team helped Hoffenheim to their best-ever finish in the German top flight with third place confirming the club’s debut appearance in the Champions League.
That earned Naglesmann the RB Leipzig gig and the club spent most of the season challenging for the Bundesliga title in his first season. Not only that they’ve reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League but things could have turned out differently as Naglesmann admitted that Real Madrid was interested. He confessed that the Los Blancos made an approach two years ago but he turned them down as he felt it wasn’t the right time for him to make the jump.
“We had phone calls, but in the end the one who decided was me. I believed it was not the right step to go to Real Madrid. I was one of the candidates and the list was not very long. For me, that was important. I had a good chat with Jose Angel Sanchez and we decided that it was not the right step at that time. We agreed that we could talk again in the future if Real Madrid needed a coach – and I was available,” Naglesmann said reported Goal.