Joshua Kimmich’s Germany performances are an encouraging sign for Bayern Munich

Joshua Kimmich’s recent performances for the German national team show the Kid has more than what it takes to become a key player at Bayern Munich.

For the past several weeks, Joshua Kimmich has been representing Bayern Munich with Die Mannschaft at the Confederations Cup in Russia. Jogi Löw opted to give stars such as Thomas Muller and Mats Hummels the summer off. Instead, he brought what many have labeled a “B-team” to the tournament to give younger players an opportunity to break into the squad.

While most of the 23-man squad consists of fringe players, there are a few German veterans who made the trip to Russia. Among them are Jonas Hector, Julian Draxler, and Joshua Kimmich. The trio are the only players from Löw’s preferred starting XI who are in the squad.

For the majority of Germany’s matches, the various fringe players have stolen the headlines with breakout performances (namely Lars Stindl, Leon Goretzka, and Timo Werner). This has meant that the performances of Germany’s proven stars have gone a bit under the radar. This is particularly true for Bayern Munich’s wunderkind Joshua Kimmich.

The amazingly versatile player primarily served as a midfielder under Carlo Ancelotti. Before that, Pep Guardiola utilized Kimmich as a center-back. With the national team, Kimmich’s main position is right-back or right-wingback.

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This is the position where he featured in last year’s Euro tournament and earned a place in the team of the tournament. He has carried that impressive form with him into the Confederations Cup. Behind Julian Draxler, Kimmich is one of the most internationally experienced players on the squad, despite only being 22-years-old. This experience has even earned him the role of vice-captain. He has had the privilege of donning the captain’s armband twice throughout the tournament now.

In his last 13 games with the German national team, Kimmich has been involved in 10 goals (2 goals, 8 assists). That’s quite an impressive stat-line for someone playing in an “unfamiliar” position. It’s also an incredibly encouraging sign for Bayern Munich.

The Bavarian’s former captain and right-back, Philipp Lahm, just retired at the end of last season. Lahm is one of the greatest right-backs to ever play the game and is leaving a massive hole behind to be filled.

However, it seems as if Bayern Munich have found the man to do just that. I wrote a few months back explaining why Kimmich should be the successor to Lahm at right-back. Since then, the German has only provided more credibility to that argument. Bayern Munich’s higher-ups have also commented on the matter, suggesting he will indeed be the next Bayern right-back.

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It’s understandable why some fans of Germany’s “Star of the South” would be wary to hand Kimmich the right-back reins. However, if any player has proven that he has what it takes to take the position and make it his own, it’s Kimmich. The German international is a young star in the making. If he continues at this rate, we might just be watching the development of a future Bayern Munich legend.