Former Celtic star set for huge jump in coaching career amid 'advanced talks' over appointment

A former Celtic star could be set for a big step up in his coaching career. Craig Bellamy is still waiting for his first senior managerial job after beginning his coaching career in 2016, starting at Cardiff City’s academy.

The former Hoops winger has spent time at Anderlecht as under-21s manager, and he later followed Vincent Kompany to Burnley, becoming the Manchester City legend’s number two. Since then, Burnley have steamrolled the Championship, winning promotion to the Premier League, and they have been steamrolled by the Premier League, returning to the Championship.

With Kompany having penned a new long-term contract last year, and with Bellamy still his trusted assistant, it was expected the pair would take charge of another Championship campaign, but all that has changed due to a huge opportunity that has come their way. According to BBC Sport, Bayern Munich are in ‘advanced talks’ with Kompany over making the Belgian their new manager. Bayern decided months ago that Thomas Tuchel would only be in place for one season after Bayern fell well short of Bundesliga champions Bayer Leverkusen, while they also went on to lose in the Champions League semi-finals, suffering a late collapse against Real Madrid.

Xabi Alonso, Julian Nagelsmann and Ralf Rangnick have all turned down the job in recent weeks, while there were talks with Tuchel over continuing after all, but they did not reach a positive conclusion.

There were big questions over where Bayern would turn this summer, but it seems they have decided upon Kompany, which is a major surprise given Burnley suffered an instant relegation from the Premier League despite the fact two teams above them were handed points deductions. As detailed in the report, if Kompany does complete his move to Bavaria, he will take Bellamy and and other members of his coaching staff with him. Although, a report from TalkSport has claimed that Burnley are considering offering Bellamy the head coach role at Turf Moor, hoping to ease the post-Kompany transition.

As for Kompany, crucially, he speaks German having previously played for Hamburg, and that could be a key factor for Bayern, although the Manchester City legend will get the chance to work with Harry Kane and Eric Dier in Bavaria. As for his Burnley exit, Bayern will have to pay a significant fee given Kompany signed a new five-year contract as recently as last year.

Speaking about the club’s relegation and his potential shortcomings, Kompany said recently: “It's way too early to answer if I'd have done things differently. I'm constantly thinking about what we could do better right now and before. But if you treat it as something which improves you, us as a club and a group of players, there is a lot of value in what we have experienced this season."

As for Kompany’s relationship with Bellamy, the Belgian has previously said: “I heard a few people say that Craig is someone that is misunderstood,' Kompany stated. 'I think that is very true. I think the headlines during his career don't necessarily reflect how we experienced him as a team-mate.

“He's someone who is very intelligent, someone who cares - sometimes more about others than himself. That's been really important in us achieving success. Craig will probably talk his own role a little bit down but for us he's been really important. In a way, I think his pathway is good as well. I get seen as first of the class, always doing the right thing at the right time, but he has a history of also making mistakes. He got hurt and burned for it and that's the story of a lot of young people in general so you do have that other side which is important.”