Aaron Danks steps in as Bayern Munich prepare for Freiburg without Vincent Kompany
Bayern Munich will face Freiburg without head coach Vincent Kompany after he collapsed at the club’s training ground on Friday and was taken to a Munich hospital for medical checks. Sporting director Max Eberl said Kompany’s condition was stable, although he suggested the Belgian could be away from the touchline for several weeks.
Assistant coach Aaron Danks will lead Bayern in his absence. The change comes at a demanding point in the season, but it is not an unfamiliar situation for the coaching staff. Danks has worked closely with Kompany for years, understands the team’s routines and has already managed Bayern in a high-profile European match.
For supporters following the Bundesliga fixture, the immediate question is whether the change in leadership will affect Bayern’s performance. Danks has stressed that the club will continue to work as usual, while Eberl has made clear that Bayern’s coaching team remains united behind its absent head coach.
Who is Aaron Danks?
The 43-year-old Englishman is a long-serving coach whose career began unusually early. Danks has said he started coaching at 15, leaving school with a simple kit of footballs and training bibs to run sessions at schools and holiday camps around Birmingham. That early experience helped shape a career focused on player development, tactical detail and practical work on the training pitch.
He later joined Birmingham City as a youth coach before moving to West Bromwich Albion’s academy at the age of 22. Danks spent 11 years there, building experience in youth football and working with players at different stages of their development. His work eventually brought him to the English Football Association, where he served as a possession coach for the national youth teams.
One of his most notable achievements came in 2017, when he was part of the England Under-20 setup that won the FIFA U-20 World Cup. Danks also worked with England’s Under-21 side, where he coached Jamal Musiala for a period. The pair later reunited at Bayern, giving Danks an existing understanding of one of the club’s most important attacking players.
A trusted member of Kompany’s coaching team
Danks first worked with Kompany at Belgian club RSC Anderlecht, where he was appointed as an assistant in 2021. He left after two months to take up a coaching role at Aston Villa, close to his home city of Birmingham. Following his time at Villa, he joined Middlesbrough, where he spent around a year and a half before reuniting with Kompany at Bayern in the summer of 2024.
Kompany has previously described Danks as one of England’s most talented coaches. At Bayern, Danks contributes to training sessions, including small-sided games and set-piece work. Those responsibilities place him close to the daily preparation of the squad, rather than limiting him to a supporting role from the sidelines.
That familiarity should help Bayern maintain continuity against Freiburg. Danks has already taken charge of the team in a major test: the first leg of last season’s Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain. Kompany was suspended after accumulating yellow cards, so Danks led the team from the touchline in Paris. Bayern lost 5-4 in a dramatic encounter that became one of the competition’s most memorable matches.
What to expect from Bayern against Freiburg
With Danks in charge, Bayern are expected to rely on the same principles and preparation established under Kompany. Eberl said the club had no plans to make wider changes, noting that the coaching staff shares what he called “the spirit of Vinnie.” That message suggests Bayern want the squad to treat the Freiburg game as a continuation of its normal work, not a departure from the head coach’s approach.
From a football prediction perspective, a temporary change in the dugout does not automatically mean a major tactical shift. Danks knows the players, has worked within Kompany’s system and has experience managing the team under pressure. Bayern’s performance will still depend on execution: how effectively they control possession, create chances and respond to Freiburg’s intensity.
Freiburg can make the contest difficult, particularly if they disrupt Bayern’s rhythm and use the energy of their home crowd. For the visitors, maintaining concentration and avoiding careless turnovers will be important. Set pieces may also be a significant area to watch, given Danks’s involvement in that part of Bayern’s training work.
Any prediction should also account for the emotional context. Kompany’s health is the priority, and the players will be aware that their coach is recovering away from the stadium. Danks has said the staff’s football responsibilities are now in its hands, while his brief conversation with Kompany on Friday was focused solely on how he was feeling—not match preparation.
A calm presence during an unusual week
Danks has approached the extra attention with composure. Asked whether stepping into the spotlight brought pressure, he said it depended on how the situation was viewed. For the coaching staff, he explained, the task was to follow established routines and continue working as a team.
That calm manner has reportedly helped him earn the players’ trust. It also reflects the close-knit culture around Kompany’s staff, where responsibility is shared rather than concentrated in one person. Eberl’s public support for the assistants underlines Bayern’s intention to give Danks and his colleagues the space to manage the team while Kompany remains unavailable.
There is a personal side to Danks’s life in Munich, too. His family remains in England, but they visit during school holidays. His 16-year-old son, Coby, has sometimes watched Bayern training and helped the kit staff by carrying equipment and collecting footballs. Danks has described those visits as a welcome pleasure while working abroad.
He has also become part of Bayern’s wider celebrations, including the club’s title festivities, where he has been pictured with the cockatoo associated with the team’s recent championship parties. It is a lighter detail, but one that illustrates how comfortably he has settled into the club’s environment.
Bayern’s focus remains on the team
For now, Bayern’s attention turns to Freiburg and to supporting Kompany as he recovers. Danks brings a strong development background, experience at elite clubs and a detailed knowledge of the squad. While his appointment is temporary, his previous spell in charge against PSG showed that he can handle a demanding occasion.
The result will ultimately be decided on the pitch, not by the name on the touchline. But Bayern’s continuity, Danks’s familiarity with Kompany’s methods and the backing of the wider coaching staff provide reasons for confidence. The club’s message is clear: the team will keep moving forward together while its head coach focuses on his health.
