Victim of illness on Friday afternoon, Vincent Kompany had to be urgently hospitalized after collapsing on the sidelines of reserve team training, in the company of Dante, coach of Bayern II. Emergency services quickly intervened, including the mobilization of a helicopter, before the 40-year-old Belgian technician was transported by ambulance to a hospital in Munich. Since then, as confirmed by the German press, his condition has been stable and he is receiving treatment. But this incident would unfortunately not be trivial in the eyes of his professional entourage. For several weeks already, members of the club had been worried about his pace of life and his particularly intense investment in his work. Kompany had also been suffering from a viral infection for several days.
Because according to the German daily, warning signs have been multiplying for some time in the Bavarian technician’s entourage. Within the locker room and among the staff, some were concerned about his lack of sleep, his irregular and unhealthy diet and especially his excessive consumption of coffee to stay awake. The former Manchester City and Anderlecht defender would also have abandoned physical activities, while accumulating working hours without really taking any rest. A particularly trying pace for the coach described as meticulous, who himself admitted not having taken sufficient care of his health in recent weeks.
Bad eating habits and excessive coffee consumption
And for good reason, Vincent Kompany would be a real workaholic, eager to personally control the smallest details of the functioning of his team. According to BILDthe Belgian takes care of warm-ups as well as pre-match talks, travel, instructions from the edge of the pitch and even media obligations. His involvement even goes far beyond the sporting framework. In particular, he would have actively participated in the discussions concerning the expansion of the training facilities and the installation of a new giant XXL screen to protect the closed sessions. Added to this are the discussions around the transfer window, the daily preparation for training and the long hours spent in front of his laptop analyzing matches, sometimes until late at night. An accumulation of responsibilities which would have ended up weighing heavily on his daily life.
From now on, the priority is obviously elsewhere than on the pitch. While Bayern Munich has announced a long unavailability of its coach, the Bavarian club will have to organize without its technician for the next deadlines. This episode above all highlights the concerns that already existed internally regarding Kompany’s workload. His pace of life since taking office had largely been singled out internally. But for Bayern as for those around him, the main thing now is to allow him to recover in the best conditions, far from the permanent pressure of the very high level.
