Nagelsmann lost heart with Bayern players for dating a female reporter
"I know Nagelsmann's relationship with this Bild reporter is a big topic in the dressing room," Babbel told Swiss newspaper Blick on March 25. "It's not good for Nagelsmann to date her. So Nagelsmann's girlfriend is a big problem for Bayern."
Babbel played for the Bayern youth team from 1981 to 1991, and had two stints with the first team, 1991-1992 and 1994-2000. In total, he won nine titles, including three Bundesliga. Babbel also played for Hamburg, Liverpool, Blackburn Rovers and then retired at Stuttgart.
According to Babbel, many Bayern players did not dare to say their thoughts to Nagelsmann for fear of these things being published in the media, after the German coach dated Wurzenberger.
Nagelsmann made his relationship with Wurzenberger public while enjoying his 2022 summer vacation on a yacht off Ibiza, after his first year at Bayern. Previously, Wurzenberger specialized in reporting on Bayern in Bild - Germany's largest newspaper.
When the relationship between the two was revealed, Bild announced that Wurzenberger was stepping down from coverage of the Bayern news under an immediate effect, in order to avoid any conflict of interest between her personal and professional life. According to Blick, Wurzenberger has resigned from Bild at the end of this month.
Nagelsmann's relationship itself was controversial, as he publicly dated Wurzenberger just weeks after splitting with his wife Verena. After 15 years of being together, the two have a son and a daughter, but only got married in 2018.
In the press conference to launch the new coach Thomas Tuchel on March 25, CEO Oliver Kahn and Director Salihamidzic did not mention Nagelsmann's private life when asked why the contract is still valid until the summer of 2026 with the 35-year-old coach. According to Salihamidzic, Bayern played erratically in March 2022 and this situation repeated in September 2022. He and the leadership decided to fire Nagelsmann when "Gray Lobster" declined from the beginning of the season, dropped 10 points in the Bundesliga and lost the top spot.
Meanwhile, Kahn emphasized that Bayern owns the strongest squad in Europe, but the team's form has not improved, despite still having the opportunity to win three this season. They finished second in the Bundesliga, winning all eight matches to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Man City, and met Freiburg in the quarter-finals of the German Cup.
From March 27, the new coach Tuchel will start directing Bayern to prepare for the match against Dortmund next weekend. This is a match that can affect the race to win the Bundesliga, when Bayern are ranked second with 52 points, one point behind their rivals.
