JULIAN NAGELSMANN TURNS 37 in late July and it would be fair to assume that the Germany manager never would have envisaged himself being here at this stage of his career.
Not because it was beyond his wildest dreams. Rather his ambitions extended beyond leading his country at a home European Championships less than a decade on from when he became the youngest Bundesliga boss in history at the age of 28.
Nagelsmann would have had a different idea of how things might pan out then.
For context, winger Leroy Sane in Germany’s current squad is the same age now.
Nagelsmann was appointed manager at TSG Hoffenheim just after the midway stage of the 2015/16 campaign. His influence was immediate.
They avoided relegation and qualified for the Champions League the following season.
He was perhaps the embodiment of Das Reboot, a wunderkind of German coaching who was breaking boundaries as well as records. And that is the only way his achievements could be framed.
At 31, he was the youngest coach in the history of the Champions League, to win a game in the competition, and to reach the knockouts.
He wore bomber jackets and suede on the touchline and seemed to have a velvet touch with tactics and in-game management.
That is why Leipzig poached him and when he led them to runners-up spot in the Bundesliga and a Champions League semi-final in 2020 – losing to Thomas Tuchel’s Paris Saint-Germain – his star only rose.
Bayern Munich paid what was reported at the time to be a world-record fee of between €20-25 million to make him their manager in 2021.
Yet, three years later he is an international boss.
That is not the expected career arc.
Nagelsmann won the Bundesliga with Bayern in his first season but was sacked during the next one.
The momentum behind his career halted, and it was only Hansi Flick’s disastrous management of Germany at the 2022 World Cup, in which they failed to get out of the group, followed by a 4-1 friendly defeat to Japan, that led to the German Football Association sending him an SOS.
As the figure head of the international team, he has also had to speak out on issues of far greater importance.
When one public broadcaster ran a survey in the build up to this Euros that asked if they would prefer to see more white players in the Germany squad, Nagelsmann and midfielder Joshua Kimmich both condemned it.
“It is racist. I feel we need to wake up. Many people in Europe had to flee.. searching for a safe country,” Nagelsmann said.
“Josh [Kimmich] responded really well, with a very clear and thought-out statement. I see this in exactly the same way. This question is insane.”
That is just one personal element that forms the backdrop to these championships.
From a professional point of view, the next month also offer Nagelsmann a platform to remind clubs of the influence he is capable of having on a team – and country – that demands success.
The managers in charge of countries with expectations of lifting the trophy in Berlin on 14 July all have contrasting profiles and experiences but one thing in common: none have done so while in charge.
Didier Deschamps, of course, captained France to glory in 2000 and has achieved tremendous success since taking the reins 12 years later. Les Blues became world champions under his watch but a Euros has so far eluded the boss who has become the Godfather of the international game.
Yet Deschamps is still only 55 and it would be fascinating to see how the former Monaco, Juventus and Marseille boss might fare were he re-introduced to the wilds of the club game.
It is where Nagelsmann, even with a contract extension to take him to the next World Cup, surely sees his future.
So, too, Gareth Southgate.
He admitted in the build up to this tournament that unless he guides England to the title it may very well be his last in charge of his country. It’s hard to see the 53-year-old do the international circuit in the same way Roberto Martinez has with Belgium and Portugal since his once burgeoning Premier League career ended after winning the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic and taking Everton into Europe.
Southgate’s success at England has been borne from an ability to make players and fans connect with their international team. It has come from an innate understanding of the psyche, of realising what needed to change to make it a place where rivals could assimilate under one cause rather than any overarching philosophy or awe-inspiring style of play.
That in itself – not to mention reaching the final of Euro 2020 and 2018 World Cup semi-final – is an achievement that makes his popularity among some of the hierarchy at Manchester United understandable.
Southgate got a grip of a toxic culture and squeezed out the self-involved sense of entitlement.
And should his decision to trust youth in Germany be vindicated, it may yet be the perfect interview for the United job if Erik ten Hag’s stay of execution at Old Trafford turns out to be short-lived.
Just like Nagelsmann could not have envisaged he would be his country’s manager at this stage of his career, nor could Southgate when he was put in charge of England’s U21s after an uninspiring spell at the helm of Middlesbrough.
He became a company man, though, rising through the ranks in a way which Spain boss Luis de la Fuente can relate.
The 63-year-old was manager of Alaves in 2011 before entering the Spanish federation. He guided Spain’s U19s and U21s to European titles and the U23s to an Olympic silver medal.
After a decade at youth level, he has the job he has no doubt craved.
Unlike Italy’s Luciano Spaletti, who answered his country’s call when Roberto Mancini was tempted away by Saudi Arabia and after he experienced the sensational euphoria of being the man who won the Serie A title for Napoli in 2022/23, this feels like the pinnacle for the Spaniard.
All of them, of course, want to be the one that triumphs but Nagelsmann, perhaps more than most, has other peaks still to scale.
