Where are they now? Carlo Ancelotti’s 8 signings as Bayern Munich manager

Don Carlo Ancelotti runs this game. The haters will say he’s just vibes and eyebrows. But the haters don’t know sh*t.

His CV looks like that of someone who’s been playing Football Manager with all the cheat codes. You don’t achieve what Carlo has achieved on vibes alone. His Milanese Christmas tree was genius and, now, Don Carlo has built his Real Madrid team to get the most out of Jude Bellingham. Smart.

In his one full season at Bayern Munich back in 2016-17 , the Italian won the double, which is to be expected, to be fair, but it was never in doubt with Carlo in charge. The Bavarians made eight signings during Carlo’s reign. Let’s take a look at where those fellas are now.

Corentin Tolisso

The Frenchman had his best season at Bayern under Ancelotti, but fell down the pecking order when the big man departed. In 2022, Tolisso returned to Lyon after five years (and as many Bundesliga titles) with the Bavarians, and is now a regular starter back in his hometown.

Renato Sanches

Unfortunately, Sanches will forever be immortalised as the guy who passed to an advertising board whilst on loan at Swansea. The Portuguese pitbull bounced back, though, and following a spell at Lille, during which he won Ligue 1 alongside Sven Botman and Jonathan David, PSG snapped him up.

If you can’t beat them, buy them. Sanches is now on loan at Roma, absorbing wisdom from Daniele De Rossi.

Mats Hummels

The veteran centre-back is at Dortmund, these days. He’ll probably return to Bayern at some point, before once again going back to Dortmund. The man just can’t decide where he wants to be.

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name Carlo Ancelotti’s 25 most-used players in his career?

Kingsley Coman

This rocket-powered, lightspeed winning machine is still at Bayern, and is about to not win the league title for the first time in his senior career. The bloke has played eleven seasons since making his professional debut at 16, and has won the title every single year, regardless of which league he played in.

Xabi Alonso crushing dreams for fun.

Niklas Sule

Following five seasons in Bavaria, the German Dan Burn (Das Burn? Maybe? Needs work) is playing in yellow, these days, for the old enemy, Dortmund.

Fun fact: The manager of the Turkish Under-16s once contacted Sule to ask if he fancied playing for them simply because he reckoned Sule’s name sounded a bit Turkish.

James Rodriguez

The scorer of that World Cup golazo spent two years on loan in Bavaria before following Carlo to Everton. The Colombian’s career has been slowly winding down ever since, and he’s now back in South America, lining up alongside Lucas Moura for Sao Paolo.

Carlo Ancelotti of Real Madrid during their La Liga game against Real Betis at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain. 18 August 2013.

QUIZ: Can you name Real Madrid’s XI from Carlo Ancelotti’s first game in 2013?

Serge Gnabry

Serge is still starting for Bayern, still doing the business, and still proving West Brom wrong. The guy has dedicated his entire glittering career to making Tony Pulis eat his words when he said Gnabry, and we quote: “Isn’t at the level required to play for West Brom.”

We reckon he probably is.

Sebastian Rudy

Rudy’s one and only season at Bayern came under Carlo Ancelotti’s leadership. The midfielder won the league and cup double, then hightailed it to Schalke, then Hoffenheim where he retired in 2023.

Tom Starke

Iron Man’s cousin played 12 games for Bayern across a six-year stint. In two of those matches he conceded four goals. That’s not ideal when you play for the greatest football team in the land. He officially retired in 2018 and is now Bayern’s Under-19 goalkeeping coach.