What could’ve been: Kompany almost became Gladbach’s headcoach

In a documentation about the 125 years of Borussia Mönchengladbach, sporting director Roland Virkus tells a story about Vincent Kompany almost becoming Gladbach’s headcoach.

Borussia sporting director Roland Virkus has revealed that Bayern coach Vincent Kompany almost became head coach at Borussia Mönchengladbach in 2022:

“We actually wanted to bring Lucien Favre back and were already well into talks. My plan B after Favre was Vincent Kompany,” the 58-year-old reported in the first part of the Sky documentary “Mythos Borussia: Eine Legende wird 125” (Myth Borussia: A Legend Turns 125).

Virkus went on to call Kompany a “footballing expert”, with whom he talked about football in general “for three hours” in three seperate meetings.

“When Favre declined, I immediately called Vincent Kompany and said, ‘Vinc, now is the time, we can do it.’ He replied, ‘I’m sorry, I’ve already committed to Burnley.’ And then I was left without a coach.”

Kompany went on to achieve promotion to the Premier League by winnning the Championship in convincing fashion, before ultimately getting relegated with Burnley – and becoming the headcoach of Bayern Munich in 2024.

Virkus on the other hand reached an agreement with Daniel Farke – but the German was let go just a year later, before Gerardo Seoane took over at Gladbach, who is the current headcoach of die Fohlen.

It would have been interesting to see whether the Belgian coach would’ve ended up at Bayern, if he chose to go to Borussia Mönchengladbach back in 2022.