Chelsea Winger's Former Manager Advised Bayern Not to Sign Him

Last summer, Chelsea made the decision to sign Borussia Dortmund left winger Jamie Gittens for a reported fee of around £50 million pounds. 

He was one of two players in that position that the club signed last summer, with the acquisition of Manchester United's Alejandro Garnacho made later on in the transfer window. 

Well, it is safe to say that both of them have been an absolute disaster so far, leading to many fans wondering how the season could have ended up if the club had given Enzo Maresca the same funds to bring in a central defender, especially after the ACL injury to Levi Colwill on the eve of the season. 

The 2025 transfer window is seen as a disgrace by large parts of the Blues fanbase, and unfortunately, those two players are the front of it, with Joao Pedro seen as the exception to the rule. 

In all competitions last season, Gittens played just 1106 minutes, scoring one goal and providing five assists. Due to injuries, he did not play a single game after January, so perhaps with a full pre season we will see a better version of him next time out, but he was hardly pulling up any trees before the injuries. 

After a very good first half of last season (24/25) with Dortmund, Gittens was a player in demand. However, the appointment of Niko Kovac mid season, who preferred to use a wing back formation, meant that the youngster saw himself left out of the team regularly. 

On the note of the Croatian manager, he played quite a part in the winger signing for Chelsea. Indeed, as his former club, Bayern Munich, had shown a strong interest in signing the Englishman, but the 54-year old advised them against doing so. 

As per BILD, via iMiaSanMia, a club employee at Bayern was tasked with reaching out to Kovac to get an opinion about the player. The manager is said to have made it "more than clear" that he was not "professional enough" to succeed at Bayern. Then, the German giants turned to Luis Diaz, and things worked out very well for them. 

Very interesting. There is no reason for Kovac to lie about his professionalism, or lack there of, so you sort of have to take this at face value. Not a good look at all. It will be very interesting to see how Xabi Alonso uses, or doesn't use, Gittens when he takes over in July. He will be one of the players who reports for pre season training before the World Cup stars, so he will get a good look at him.