20 April 2023 , 16:37
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Chelsea have finally agreed to let highly-rated coach Anthony Barry reunite with ex-Blues manager Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich in a £1million deal.
The news comes as a timely boost for Tuchel, who saw his Bayern side dumped out of the Champions League on Wednesday by losing 4-1 on aggregate to a rampant Manchester City. Barry worked alongside the German tactician throughout his 19 months as Chelsea boss between February 2021 and September 2022, with the Blues memorably becoming champions of Europe.
Now they pair are set to be reunited in Bavaria, where Tuchel has spent less than a month after replacing Julian Nagelsmann, who's now a target for Chelsea as they search for their next manager. Upon his appointment, the former Blues boss made it clear that he wanted to recruit Barry, who was told to stay away from Chelsea's training ground while the fraught negotiations took place.
As first reported by the Times, Bayern have agreed to pay Chelsea a £1m compensation fee in exchange for Barry's acclaimed services. The Liverpool-born coach enjoyed a solid playing career across England's lower divisions but hung up his boots aged 31 when he was released by Wrexham in 2017.
Having spent three years assisting Paul Cook at Wigan Athletic, Barry went to Chelsea in the summer of 2020. A few months later, he joined the Republic of Ireland 's coaching team on a part-time basis, helping Stephen Kenny introduce an attractive brand of football.
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After a year with Ireland, Barry moved on to link-up with Roberto Martinez in the Belgium setup and then followed him to the Portugal national side earlier this year. The 36-year-old is expected to combine his Portugal duties with the new role at Bayern.
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Anthony Barry will reunite with Thomas Tuchel at Bayern Munich (Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images)Tuchel will be desperate for Barry to make an immediate impact, with the German giants focussing all of their efforts on winning the Bundesliga title for an 11th successive year. Bayern are already out of the DFB-Pokal, meaning that Wednesday's second-leg exit at the hands of City was even more damaging to their underwhelming season.
Attempting to keep spirits high at the Allianz Arena, Tuchel said following the 1-1 draw on home soil: "We had them on the ropes twice, tonight more so than in Manchester. We had no luck over the 180 minutes, though. I'm very pleased with both performances against City and the manner in which we played today. We went toe to toe with the best team in Europe at the moment."
Bayern are currently two points clear of title rivals Borussia Dortmund with six games remaining. Tuchel led the Bavarians to a 4-2 victory over Dortmund earlier this month in his first game in charge, although Bayern have only managed one from the following five.