Bayern Munich name new No 2 as Clement nears Swansea job

Hermann Gerland: Steps into Clement's shoes at Bayern

Bayern Munich have named Hermann Gerland as Carlo Ancelotti’s new assistant manager as Swansea’s appointment of Paul Clement as their new boss edges closer. 

Clement, who joined Bayern as assistant coach in June 2016, has agreed a two-and-a-half-year deal at the Liberty Stadium.

The move is expected to be confirmed before Swansea’s Premier League game at Crystal Palace on Tuesday night.

Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge told the official club website: “Paul has been a professional, loyal and capable coach for us.

“We did not want to stand in his way of becoming a manager in the Premier League.

“We wish him all the best for the future.”

Bayern granted Clement permission to speak to Swansea on Monday and the German champions have moved quickly to replace the 44-year-old former Derby boss.

“Hermann Gerland has been named as the immediate successor to Paul Clement as Bayern Munich’s assistant coach,” said a club statement.

“The decision was made together by head coach Carlo Ancelotti and the Bayern Munich board.

“Outgoing assistant coach Paul Clement had previously received permission from the club to leave Bayern after he expressed his desire to take over at Premier League club Swansea.”

Gerland spent eight years as a coach with Bayern’s reserves before being promoted to assume first-team duties in April 2009.

In that role he has already assisted Ancelotti’s predecessors Louis van Gaal, Jupp Heynckes and Pep Guardiola.

Clement will become Swansea’s third manager of a troubled season, following Francesco Guidolin and Bob Bradley.

But he is expected to take a watching brief at Selhurst Park, with caretaker boss Alan Curtis in charge against fellow strugglers Palace.

Clement has a top-class coaching pedigree having worked alongside Ancelotti at Chelsea, Paris St Germain, Real Madrid and Bayern.

But his only previous managerial spell at Derby lasted just eight months. The Rams were fifth in the Sky Bet Championship when Clement was sacked in February 2016, with club owner Mel Morris critical of their playing style.

Swansea are bottom of the Premier League with 12 points from 19 games, and only West Brom in 2004-05 have recovered from a worse position at the halfway stage of the campaign to survive.