Bayern Munich were forced to deny on Monday that their coach Thomas Tuchel had talked about the Barcelona coaching job that Xavi Hernandez is vacating at the end of the season.
Xavi’s announcement on Sunday that he will leave Barcelona at the end of the season has sparked a flurry of speculation about his possible successor.
At a Bayern fan club event later on Sunday, former Chelsea manager Tuchel said working “abroad will appeal to me again” at some point in his career.
Tuchel then talked in general about the Spanish La Liga and, according to some reports, he also spoke about the possibility of working at Barcelona.
Bayern’s CEO Jan-Christian Dreesen and sporting director Christoph Freund though issued an angry statement to insist that Tuchel “never spoke about Xavi Hernandez and his successor, as was falsely claimed afterwards”.
Bayern added: “We will no longer accept such non-factual statements directed against our coach.”
Arsenal’s Spanish manager Mikel Arteta on Monday slammed reports he was ready to quit the Premier League club to take over at Barcelona as “fake news”.
Spanish newspaper Sport had suggested that Arteta, a product of Barcelona’s youth academy, was considering leaving his position with the Gunners. However, Arteta refuted the claims, stating, “Who, me? No. That is totally fake news.”
“I’m in the right place with the right people and feel really good about it. There is still a lot to do,” Arteta stated.
Arteta’s contract with Arsenal is set to run until the summer of 2025.
