Niklas Sule ready to become leader at Bayern Munich

Bayern Munich defender Niklas Sule is confident about becoming a leader in the defense next season.

There has been an exodus of senior players at Bayern Munich this summer. The German club has decided to start improving the spine of the squad by signing young players. Die Roten has added three young players to the squad till now. They are expected to make at least one more signing before the deadline day.

The defense was the achilles heel of Bayern last season. Die Rotten dropped points in the league due to defensive mistakes regularly. The Bundesliga champions decided to address this issue by signing Benjamin Pavard and Lucas Hernandez.

Mats Hummels has already departed while the future of Jerome Boateng is still uncertain. Niklas Sule is ready to grab this opportunity and become the leader in defense. Speaking to SportBild (via Goal), the German international admits that he wants to take his game to next level this season.

"“I want to take more responsibility, play better, and make even fewer mistakes,.I really want to take the next step.”“I’m not a big speaker in terms of my personality. I want to work my way into the role, to lead the younger players, push them and take responsibility. I’ve gained experience over my two years at Bayern and also in the national team. I want to use that more.”"

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After a decent debut campaign in 2017/18, Sule established himself as a key player for Bayern under Niko Kovac. The 23-year-old center-back is one of the certain starters for Die Roten next season. He ended up making 42 appearances for Bayern across all competitions. Sule has also established himself as the first-choice central defender for Germany.

There is still scope for improvement in Sule’s game, despite being a consistent player over the last two years. Sule should be looking to improve his passing range. The German will also have the task of organizing the defense next season as Boateng is unlikely to play ahead of Pavard and Hernandez. Pavard is likely to play in the central defense with Sule at the start of season as Hernandez is still recovering from a knee injury.

David Alaba and Joshua Kimmich will also have an important role to play in the dressing room next season. The former has been in Bavaria for nine years and the club is not keen on entertaining offers for him amidst speculation regarding a move to Barcelona. Kimmich meanwhile has been the most consistent player for Die Roten in the past two years and likely to be a Bayern player for a long time.

Bayern Munich squad returned from a successful pre-season tour of United States of America. The German champions will play a couple of games in Audi cup before kicking off the season with DFL Supercup clash against Borussia Dortmund on August 4.