Former RB Leipzig sporting director Max Eberl will be made head of sport at Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich, Germany’s Sky TV reported on Monday, but Leipzig sources said no approach had yet been made.
The 50-year-old – still under contract at Leipzig despite being sacked – will receive a long contract and should start at Bayern in March, the report added.
Sky said confirmation will come in February once Bayern’s board has rubber-stamped the appointment.
Club sources told dpa that Leipzig would be due around €5 million ($5.5 million) from Bayern if Eberl is appointed. It is the same amount Leipzig paid to release him from his Borussia Mönchengladbach contract in December 2022.
He quit as Gladbach sporting director in January 2022 for mental health reasons – something many Gladbach fans dispute.
Eberl was fired in September after a short spell at Leipzig, with the club criticizing his commitment. Speculation swirled that he had been talking to Bayern.
At the time, Bayern president Herbert Hainer said: “The exit of Max Eberl from RB Leipzig has absolutely nothing to do with Bayern Munich.”
At a Leipzig training camp 10 days ago, chairman Johann Plenge said Eberl’s contract had not yet been cancelled.
“The moment Bayern pick up the phone, we will talk about how this will change,” he said. Sources say Eberl’s Leipzig deal is until 2026.
His appointment in Munich would create a new layer of management at the Bundesliga giants.
Chief executive Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidzic were sacked at the end of last season after the bungled exit of ex-coach Julian Nagelsmann and Bayern only just sneaking an 11th straight title under Thomas Tuchel. They are currently second in the Bundesliga and through to the Champions League last 16.
Jan-Christian Dreesen was brought in as chief executive and Christoph Freund as sporting director. Eberl would effectively sit between the two and is expected to have a seat on the board, which is headed by president Hainer. Uli Hoeneß is honorary president and a big supporter of Eberl.
Eberl came through Bayern’s youth ranks as a player and played in one senior game before making his name at Gladbach as a right back.
He had also been linked in the media of late with a sporting director role at Liverpool.
Eberl brought in former Mainz and Schalke sporting director Rouven Schröder to work underneath him at Leipzig and Schröder has combined both roles since Eberl was put on gardening leave.
The Red Bulls say they ultimately want someone else to ease Schröder’s load.
