Bayern Munich defender Jerome Boateng is open to staying at the club despite intense speculation over his future in Bavaria.
The transfer window is yet to officially open in Germany, but Bayern Munich have started taking big steps to improve their squad. Die Roten will be very busy this summer as they look to add essential players to the team’s spine and bid farewell to numerous veteran players.
Bayern also have to sort out the futures of some of the fringe players who have struggled to get regular playing time this season. Jerome Boateng is the major star of the squad who will likely be sold in the coming months.
The 30-year-old has struggled to nail down a place in the starting lineup under Niko Kovac. Moreover, Bayern have already signed two young central defenders for next season.
Just a few days ago, Uli Hoeness publicly advised the German defender to start looking for a new club this summer. However, Boateng has not made any concrete decisions about his future. Speaking to Kicker (via Goal), Boateng admitted he is ready to fight for his place at Bayern and could see himself staying beyond the summer.
"“I surely won’t run away from here.“Situations can change quickly. Of course, I can imagine I will continue at Bayern.”"
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Boateng also insisted he was disappointed last summer when his move to Paris Saint-Germain collapsed. The German defender had agreed personal terms with the French champions, but the two clubs couldn’t agree on a transfer fee. Manchester United also emerged as a possible destination last summer, but Boateng was not keen on moving back to England.
The defender’s agent also recently told Sport1 he is not currently offering his client to other clubs. He further added that Boateng might end up staying at Bayern for one more season. The German defender has lately been linked with a move to both Inter Milan and PSG. It will be interesting to see if Thomas Tuchel is still keen on bringing Boateng to Paris this summer despite his poor season with Bayern.
Kovac regularly rotated Niklas Sule, Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng in the first half of the season. The German defender struggled to perform well, but Kovac gave him ample game time to prove himself. The Croatian eventually decided to stick with Hummels and Sule as his first choice center-back pairing in the second half of the season, though.
The Bundesliga champions have a lot of depth at center-back heading into the 2018-19 season. Boateng will struggle to play even in the cup competitions due to the arrivals of Lucas Hernandez and Benjamin Pavard. There have also even been reports linking Die Roten with Ajax’s Matthijs De Ligt. A transfer away from Bayern is the best possible outcome for Boateng if he wants to get regular minutes at this stage of his career.