Things have been tense in Munich over the past few days, but good news arrived on Wednesday. Vincent Kompany was discharged from hospital to continue his recovery at home, after spending several days undergoing examinations following his collapse during training last Friday. It was established that the Belgian manager has meningitis and that, with rest and medication, he could return to work much sooner than initially expected, when it was estimated that he would be out until the end of the year. Even without Kompany on the bench, Bayern comfortably dealt with their German Cup round-of-16 clash against Magdeburg, beating the visitors 6–1. Until the Belgian returns, the team will be led by his assistant, Aaron Danks. In an interview published on the club's website this Thursday, Bayern sporting director Max Eberl recalled an anecdote from his negotiations with Kompany over his arrival in Munich. There were other candidates to succeed Thomas Tuchel.Kompany discharged from hospital five days after collapsing – now we know the diagnosis"When I arrived at the club, it was already known that the manager would leave at the end of the season. But I don't know what the reaction would have been if I had presented Vincent Kompany as my first choice. A manager who had been relegated with Burnley succeeding Thomas Tuchel… Of course, we considered a list of candidates; Julian Nagelsmann was one of them, that's no secret. I had a very good relationship with him, but he chose the German Football Association. Ralf Rangnick also went in a different direction" Eberl recalled.Pen on paper: Bayern loves Kompany, and he loves their companyThat was when the name of the former centre-back came to the fore."At the time, we analysed the market very carefully, and everything we heard about Burnley's young manager was positive. At one point, I said: 'Let's give Vinnie a call.' We spoke before our Champions League semi-final match in Madrid. After four hours, I had to cut him off because I had a meeting. I hung up and thought: 'Wow, this sounds good.' I then asked Christoph Freund to form his own impression, and he came back with the same conclusion. He was convinced that Kompany was the right man for the job."Dyche wants Kompany‘s jobBefore joining Bayern, Kompany had managed Anderlecht, whom he failed to restore to the top of Belgian football, before taking charge of Burnley."He led Burnley to promotion to the Premier League with 101 points and was then relegated. Someone might have thought he wouldn't succeed at Bayern, that adapting would be a problem for him, but we saw things differently. He has a clear idea of how football should be played. He didn't want to sit back at Burnley and play against billionaire-backed teams such as Manchester City and Liverpool with eight players in defence, hoping to pick up a point. He wanted to win, which was a plus in my eyes. In addition, I knew that Pep Guardiola had Vinnie on his shortlist of potential successors when he eventually left City. So I suggested that Karl-Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, who have a good relationship with Pep, simply give him a call to ask for his opinion. Two hours after that call, I got the answer: 'All right, we'll do it.'"##EDITORS_CHOICE##What followed was a trip to England by Eberl and Freund."We flew to Manchester for the final meeting. At three in the morning, Vinnie said: 'All right, I want to sleep on it and talk to my wife.' I lay down on his sofa, and he asked me what I was doing. 'Uli said I'm not allowed to leave your house until you sign,' I replied. He said: 'All right, Max, I'll do it, just let me talk to my wife one more time.' Then he pushed me out," Bayern's director recalled with a smile.Compare the stats: Is Kompany better than Tuchel and Nagelsmann?Michael Olise, now one of the best wingers in the world, also arrived from England."He had taken a varied path, having gone through several different youth academies in England (Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester City and Reading), but that kind of background doesn't necessarily have to be a warning sign. Challenges and difficulties can also shape a player. To get to know a footballer, you first have to speak to people who have experienced him as a teammate or an opponent. In Michael's case, we had an advantage because Oliver Glasner was his manager at Crystal Palace at the time, while our director, Christoph Freund, knew him very well. When a manager says, 'Go ahead, take him, take him,' you start to have doubts. But Glasner told us that Michael still had a lot to learn and that he needed him. That's when we realised how highly he rated him. Then there were the conversations with Michael himself — it's an absolute pleasure to talk football with him. We knew we were getting a very good left-footed winger, exactly the kind of player we were looking for. But that he would become this brilliant… We couldn't have predicted that. The transfer fee was foreseeable because of his release clause. His development is also a result of the environment and the team itself."Unexpected names on Kompany's wishlist – a Premier League veteran and a rookie eachMax Eberl also explained how things work inside Bayern's dressing room."At a club like Bayern, the key is the desire to achieve something great together, and the manager has an enormous influence on that. When I first entered the first-team facilities after joining the club in March 2024, I thought: 'What lethargy. It's as if everything is covered by a heavy blanket.' We are Bayern Munich; we can be champions every year, and we have to enjoy that. Vincent Kompany completely changed the atmosphere. Many of the players are the same, but they seem like completely different people. When there are problems within the team, even Harry Kane finds it difficult to perform at his best. Now, everything around him is perfect, and what impressed me happened during Vinnie's first season, when we lost 4–1 to Barcelona. After the match, the manager asked the players what they thought. Harry stood up and delivered an impressive speech that went straight to the point. From that moment on, he has always led the team and has never shied away from responsibility. We knew him as a top striker, but what he is playing like today is extraordinary. The system and his teammates allow him to fulfil that role. He is the best example of what a player can grow into when the right qualities come together," Eberl concluded.##NAJAVA_MECA_10067437##