Thomas Tuchel is performing wonders at Mainz – but a future in the Premier League could be down to pub quiz favourite Sean Dundee.
Sean Dundee cost Liverpool £2 million back in 1998 but unfortunately for him he is now remembered as one of the clubs most infamous flop signings.
He came to the club full of promise – after scoring goals for fun at TSF Ditzingen and Karlsruher in his adopted German home – but the South African arrived during Karl-Heinz Riedle’s Indian summer and the emergence of Michael Owen. When Robbie Fowler returned from injury it was curtains for Dundee.
He left for VfB Stuttgart after just one season and went on to play for Austria Vienna, former clubs Karlsruher and Stuttgart Kickers as well as Kickers Offenbach before finishing his professional career in South Africa with AmaZulu in 2009.
The 41-year-old is now looking to get into coaching – and has been speaking to German publication Bild about how he has helped to mould a man being dubbed the ‘next Jurgen Klopp’.
Thomas Tuchel is currently performing wonders at Mainz – just as Klopp did before becoming Borussia Dortmund coach in 2008.
Tuchel worked with Klopp at Mainz and has continued to perform wonders since he left the club – and is considered one of the best managers in the Bundesliga.
He recently caused a stir in Germany when he performed a press conference in almost fluent English – prompting many a German source to suggest the Premier League is just around the corner for this talented young manager (Tuchel is just 40-years-old).
But, according to Dundee, that English speaking is a lot to do with him.
Dundee and Tuchel were both members of the Stuttgarter Kickers youth team – and were close friends during that time.
And Dundee claims he perfected English in conversations with himself – a dual German- English speaker.
“Thomas and I, we talked a lot from the beginning, only English to each other. That certainly has helped him to perfect the language. Every day we would spend 14 hours together and only spoke English to each other. That was the best. Without Thomas I could not stand it long in Germany. I am very pleased that he has so much success with Mainz.”
So if Tuchel does rock up at your Premier League team someday soon – which promise me, would not be a bad thing, think of Sean Dundee – the much maligned Liverpool flop who helped shape his English linguistic skills.
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