Danks leaves Middlesbrough to join Kompany's staff at Bayern Munich
Written by Training Ground Guru — June 21, 2024
Middlesbrough Assistant Aaron Danks and former Leeds United number two René Maric are among Vincent Kompany’s new backroom staff at Bayern Munich.
Kompany, 38, left Burnley after two years to become the surprise new boss of Bayern at the end of last month. Danks, 39, leaves Middlesbrough, where he has been Michael Carrick's Assistant for the last 19 months. The Birmingham-born coach previously worked with Kompany at Belgian side Anderlecht in 2021/22.
He has also worked with England’s Under-20 and U21 teams, as well as for Aston Villa, under Steven Gerrard, Dean Smith and Unai Emery, as well as acting as interim manager of the Premier League club.
Austrian Mari?, 31, had been linked with a first move into management with Championship side Sunderland this summer, but today's news ends that speculation. Mari?, who was our guest on Episode #63 of the TGG Podcast, joined Bayern last Autumn in the new role of Head of Coach Development and Playing Philosophy.
He had previously been Assistant at Leeds United, Borussia Dortmund, Borussia Mönchengladbach and in the RB Salzburg Academy. Mari? will continue to act as a link between the first team and Academy at Bayern, although his position as U19s boss, which he had taken on in the second half of last season, will now be taken over by current U17 boss Peter Gaydarov.
In addition, Floribert N’Galula and Bram Geers move from Burnley to be reunited with Kompany. N’Galula was born in Brussels and began his playing career in the Anderlecht Academy, before spending four years at Manchester United. The 35-year-old was also on Kompany's staff at Anderlecht.
Fitness Coach Geers worked for Anderlecht for almost five years as a Performance Coach and Analyst, with the latter three of those being when Kompany was Head Coach.
However, a quartet of Kompany’s other staff, who worked with him at both Anderlecht and Burnley, haven’t made the move to Munich: Assistant Craig Bellamy, Set Piece Coach Eliot Tybebo, Lead Analyst and Set Piece Coach Richard Bredice and Goalkeeper Coach Jelle Ten Rouwelaar.
Burnley are still yet to appoint a replacement for Kompany, although they have taken the unusual step of bringing a new Assistant to a managerless club, with the Dane Henrik Jensen joining from Swedish side Kalmarr FF.