Thomas Tuchel believes Bayern Munich chief Uli Hoeness' comments on his struggles to develop young players 'insults' him.
Tuchel will leave the German giants at the end of the season amid an underwhelming second campaign at the club.
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Bayern lost the Bundesliga title for first time in 12 years and crashed out of domestic cups, with Champions League glory all that's left.
Ahead of their semi-final first leg against Real Madrid, honorary president Hoeness critiqued Tuchel's ability to develop the club's young stars.
Speaking on a panel held by the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper via AP, he said: “He doesn’t think he can improve a [Alphonso] Davies, [Aleksandar] Pavlovic or [Jamal] Musiala.
"If it doesn’t work, you should buy someone else. I think you should work hard on them and give them confidence.”
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Hoeness also said he expects coaches to improve youngsters but Tuchel was not best pleased with the assessment.
“[They] are so far removed from reality that there’s no … I don’t know how I should answer," he said when asked about the comments.
"On the one hand it insults my honour as a coach, because I think we’ve shown as a coaching team for the last 15 years that young players, especially from the academy, always, always, always have a place with us in training and that they have a place on the field with their performances.”
He added: “It’s so far removed from reality that I wouldn’t have reacted to it at all if it hadn’t come from Uli Hoeness. If it hadn’t come from Uli, then I would have said, ‘Guys, it’s not even worth talking about.’
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"Because it’s from Uli, because it’s from our boss, because it’s four days before the game against Real Madrid, it’s judged a bit differently.”
Tuchel could be sat to cap off his Bayern stint with another major trophy having won the Bundesliga title last season.
German football expert Constantin Eckner explains how Brighton & Hove Albion manager Roberto De Zerbi is the front runner to become the new Bayern Munich boss replacing Thomas Tuchel
He has already tasted Champions League following his triumph with Chelsea in 2021, who beat Madrid in the semi-finals.
However, the 14-time winners could spell a more difficult task this year, with Bayern still far from convincing on the European stage.