The first steps have been taken, the change has begun at FC Bayern. New faces have been brought in, two established names have been dismissed. But the new structure around coach Vincent Kompany does not seem to be all that solid yet. The Belgian, in office since July 1, is currently honing his basic formation.
Upamecano and Kim instead of Tah – fans angry
An important vacancy in the chronically shaky center of midfield is to be filled by Portugal’s sweeper Joao Palhinha. But the defense remains a work in progress. First of all, there is the central defense: After the departure of Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United, Dayot Upamecano, Min-jae Kim and Eric Dier are currently available as experienced defenders.
The decision by Kompany, sports director Max Eberl and sports director Christoph Freund appears to have been made to choose Upamecano and Kim as the new defensive duo. The Frenchman and the South Korean increasingly struggled with errors in positioning and build-up play, which is why former coach Thomas Tuchel mostly relegated them to the bench in the second half of the season. The lack of understanding among many Bayern fans is correspondingly great. 70,000 fans signed an online petition to keep de Ligt in Munich. The Dutchman had been able to gather many arguments in his favor in the knockout games of the Champions League in conjunction with Dier. And yet they are parting ways.
Lots of patchwork on the transfer market
The fact that new signing Hiroki Ito, the only notable new defensive player, suffered a broken metatarsal in the second test match is only one part of the unfinished picture in the Bavarian transfer puzzle. The same goes for the behavior surrounding the previous desired player Jonathan Tah from championship rivals Bayer Leverkusen. After the logic had been established in recent weeks that Tah could only move to Munich if de Ligt was sent away at great expense, the German international is no longer the number one transfer target.
FC Bayern says no to Tah transfer
At least that is how the “kicker” understands it, citing several sources. The Bayern officials have distanced themselves again due to the transfer fee of at least 25 million euros. The money from the double transfer of de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui (around 70 million euros) would rather be spent elsewhere.
As big as the numbers of the De Ligt-Mazraoui deal seem at first glance, they reveal another bad investment by FC Bayern in defense. De Ligt came from Turin in 2022 for just under 70 million euros, now he is going to Manchester for around 50 million. After Niklas Süle (2022) and Lucas Hernández (2023), he is the third central defender who came to the Bavarian capital for expensive transfer fees and was ultimately sold again at a loss.
Stanisic is set to become a permanent fixture
At least in the right-back position, FC Bayern can boast a reinforcement: Josip Stanisic returns from Leverkusen after his one-year loan with a lot of confidence and claims a regular place at FC Bayern. Joshua Kimmich is expected to move back into defensive midfield alongside Palhinha under Kompany.
Transfer wrangling: Davies to stay after all
Alphonso Davies appears to continue to be preferred at left back. Davies initially expressed his desire to move to the club and also rejected an offer to extend his contract with FC Bayern. But all signs point to him staying, and Davies apparently wants to move to Real Madrid on a free transfer next summer. It would be the next transfer that would put a big loss on FCB’s books.
Whether his challengers (Raphael Guerreiro and Adam Aznou) can really put him under pressure over the course of the season is just as open as the question of how solid the defense of Upamecano, Kim and Stanisic will be. After all, it is now being coached by a former world-class defender.
