BERLIN: Bayern Munich said Wednesday they would part ways with manager Thomas Tuchel at the end of the season, as the reigning German champions struggled to stay in the Bundesliga title race.

`We came to the decision to end our working relationship by mutual agreement in the summer,` Bayern CEO JanChristian Dreesen said in a statement, following talks with Tuchel.

The coach, whose contract was set to run through to 2025, would exit the club on June 30 this year.

`Until then, I will of course continueto do everything I can with my coaching staff to achieve maximum success, Tuchel, who in the past had been in charge at Borussia Dortmund, Paris St Germain and also won a Champions League title with Chelsea in 2021, said in the statement.

Bayern would look for a `new footballing direction` under a different coach next season, CEO Dreesen said.

Bayern lost their last three games in all competitions, including a 3-0 defeat toleague leaders BayerLeverkusen and have now dropped eight points behind them in the Bundesliga.They were also beaten 1-0 by Lazio in last week`s Champions League first leg and now risk going without any silverware for the first season in more than a decade.

Tuchel had taken over in March 2023 from Julian Nagelsmann with high expectations but he suffered a bumpy start, crashing out of the German Cup and the Champions League before snatching the Bundesliga title from Borussia Dortmund on the final matchday.

This season they have been equally mercurial, showing only glimpses of the form that saw them dominate Germanfootball for the past decade. They were eliminated from the German Cup by third-tier club Saarbruecken.

Tuchel`s first full season at Bayern had been hit by a string of injuries to key players and by what he had said was a relatively thin squad at the start of the campaign despite the arrival of Bundesliga record signing Harry Kane.

He also triggered the ire of Bayern fans, opting to play Joshua Kimmich in defence instead of a holding six and leaving veteran and crowd favourite Thomas Mueller on the bench for several games.-Agencies