Bayern Munich’s Mats Hummels has no regrets about turning down Manchester United
Mats Hummels is happy with his decision to spurn Manchester United’s advances in 2015 and is looking forward to a fruitful season under Niko Kovac at Bayern Munich.
Instead of leaving Borussia Dortmund for the record English champions, Hummels stayed at the Signal Iduna Park for another season before winning back-to-back Bundesliga titles following his return to Bayern in the summer of 2016.
A fulcrum of the Bayern team having made some 49 league starts across the two seasons since, Hummels has no regrets about turning down the chance to leave his homeland.
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“I thought about going to Manchester United in 2015,” he told Sport Bild. “There were other possibilities in 2016, so it isn’t correct to say I haven’t dealt with it. But I really have no need to go abroad.”
With Kovac succeeding Jupp Heynckes in the summer, Hummels will play under his third coach in as many seasons at the Allianz Arena, but he has no worries that the former Eintracht Frankfurt coach will walk into a difficult dressing room.
“It’s like that with guys like Thomas Müller and Manuel Neuer,” he continued. “Thomas isn’t going to go up to Niko Kovac and tell him ‘look, I’ve won the title seven times, I know better.’ The coach is the boss. He might as well say goodbye to the coach that way.”
“My relationship with Jürgen Klopp was unbelievably warm [when the Liverpool manager and Hummels overlapped at BVB],” he conlcuded. “But he was my boss. When he became our coach it wasn’t an issue that he hadn’t won any titles yet, nor played in the top flight.”
“If I look at how Niko Kovac managed Eintracht Frankfurt, with what looks – at least from the outside – to be a difficult group, then I think he can do the same with us.”