World Cup-winner Jerome Boateng has revealed how he considered quitting Bayern Munich before Carlo Ancelotti was sacked last month as head coach.
Boateng missed the first two months of this year with a shoulder injury, then hurt his thigh in May which saw him ruled out until September.
He struggled to win a starting place on his return and Ancelotti completely left him out of the match day squad for Bayern’s 3-0 thrashing at Paris Saint-Germain three weeks ago which led to his dismissal.
The Italian was sacked a day after the Champions League drubbing and Germany star Boateng admits he thought of leaving Bayern in the summer because of Ancelotti.
“It is completely normal to have thoughts like that,” said Boateng in Munich on Tuesday ahead of Bayern’s Champions League match at home to Celtic.
“I wanted to know what my position is and how I was seen by the club and the coach.
“However, I decided to stay here, I have had a great time at Bayern and I didn’t want to just run away after a bad spell.”
The 29-year-old World Cup-winner has won 14 titles with Bayern since joining in 2011, including lifting the 2013 Champions League title.
He told magazine Kicker last week that he quizzed Bayern’s senior figures about his future in the summer as injuries meant he struggled for form under Ancelotti.
Boateng was reportedly one of the senior figures at Bayern who complained to chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge that training sessions under Ancelotti were too easy.
After the Italian was fired, Jupp Heynckes has returned as Bayern’s head coach.
The 72-year-old led Bayern to the 2013 treble of Bundesliga, German Cup and Champions League titles with Boateng the cornerstone of his defence as centre-back.
“It’s not part of our job to only be motivated by the coach in order to produce a good performance,” said Boateng when asked about Heynckes.
“But every coach is obviously different.
“You can see from the way we are training now, that the team is having fun again and that the trainer has an intuition for things.”
Heynckes says Boateng felt under valued by Ancelotti.
“He (Boateng) was unlucky to have suffered different injuries – which lasted quite a long time,” said Heynckes.
“If you are out for two or three months, you need a long time to reach your old form.
“Perhaps the problem was in his mentality and he was unhappy because he felt he didn’t feel quite so recognised.
