MUNICH: Vincent Kompany insists his footballing principles will not change after swapping the Championship for the Champions League by making the unlikely move from Burnley to Bayern Munich.
Kompany led Burnley to promotion to the Premier League in his first season at the northwest English club, only to get a reality check when his bold and attacking style of play was exposed in the top division.
Burnley’s relegation led to accusations by some that Kompany’s tactics were naïve, but the former Manchester City and Belgium defender said he was proud to have stayed consistent “in the very highs and the very lows” and will be working the same way at Bayern.
“At this club and this journey, I have no intention of being a different person,” Kompany said on Thursday at a news conference where he was presented as the replacement for Thomas Tuchel. “I don’t think that’s what they want.”
Kompany will, therefore, ask the same things from Bayern’s higher-quality players as he did from those at Burnley.
“I want the players of Bayern Munich to be brave, really brave on the ball, to have personality on the ball,” he said. “But also my nature is, I’m also someone that is aggressive, so I want the team to be aggressive.
“I want the team to represent those two things that would make my character — absolutely brave when they have the ball, when they’re making decisions, and absolutely aggressive, something that they carry throughout every minute of the game always.”
Kompany said the fact that next season’s Champions League final is being staged at Munich’s Allianz Arena will be used as some motivation.
“The goal is for me quite simple: I always try to win every match. It doesn’t matter where you are, it is always most, most important that we want to win every match,” he said. “That the Champions League final is here in Munich might make it a bit more important than the others, if I am honest. But I know we will not reach it by just expressing it.”