Thomas Tuchel kills off Anthony Barry's Ireland speculation
Thomas Tuchel has crushed any prospect of the FAI snaring his Bayern Munich assistant Anthony Barry by stating ‘forget about that’.
The German responded at a scheduled media conference to a midweek report in the UK that Barry was a leading candidate to fill the vacancy created by the departure of Stephen Kenny last month.
The Liverpudlian (37) is well-known to Irish fans for acting as Kenny’s assistant during 2021, a role he left to join Belgium, then the top team in the world. He’s since been reunited with Roberto Martinez at Portugal.
Barry’s primary post is at club level. He was headhunted by Chelsea boss Frank Lampard as a specialist coach, particularly for set-pieces, and remained at Stamford Bridge under various managers until one, Tuchel, lured him to the Bundesliga. Bayern had to pay Chelsea compensation of around €1m for the guru’s release.
His CV has understandably attracted suitors for him to work as a standalone boss.
He had been linked with several club vacancies, the most recent being Swansea City, until the latest speculation around the prospect of him leading Ireland into next year’s Nations League, the draw for which takes place on February 8 in Paris.
His boss Tuchel, however, killed off that scenario unfolding – even if both parties were so disposed – by stating: “Canard, canard, canard. No topic, we can forget about that.”
FAI chief executive Jonathan Hill revealed in the last week that himself and Marc Canham have held preliminary discussions with all of their potential candidates, with an escalation in the interview process due in early January.
Former Ireland internationals Chris Hughton and Lee Carsley remain the leading candidates, albeit the latter has been approached by Stoke City with a
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