Can Bayern Munich compete with a smaller squad?
Joshua Kimmich hints that Bayern Munich needs more signings to compete in all competitions this season.
Bayern Munich started the second half of the season on a bitter note as they suffered a 5-2 defeat in a friendly game against FC Nurnberg on Saturday. Hansi Flick insisted that there is no need to panic after this game, but it surely highlighted the need for strengthening the squad.
Die Roten have been ravaged with numerous injuries this season. Players such as Lucas Hernandez and Niklas Sule have been out for a long time. The German defender is not expected to play again this season, while Hernandez has been out for the past two months.
In the offensive department, Kingsley Coman has been out for more than a month. The French winger didn’t train with the first team at the training camp in Doha last week. He is set to miss at least two more games before returning to first-team training. Serge Gnabry is also nursing an injury at the moment, putting his participation against Hertha Berlin next weekend in doubt.
After the defeat against Nurnberg, Joshua Kimmich voiced his concerns about the small squad at Bayern. Speaking to Goal, the German international insisted that Die Roten need a bigger squad to challenge in all competitions.
"“At the training camp in Doha, you can see that we’ve actually only got 12 or 13 professional players in the squad and the rest are youth.”“The table for the youth players was full. That wasn’t the case during my first year at Bayern.We might play until the end of the season in all three competitions and we have lots of international players too, so we need more players who are fit.”"
More from Bayern Strikes
- Bayern Munich: Tactical takeaways from 2-2 draw against Bayer Leverkusen
- Bayern Munich: Kingsley Coman set to be fit for Manchester United clash
- Bayern Munich unlikely to move for Trevoh Chalobah in January
- Bayern Munich: Key lessons from draw against Bayer Leverkusen
- Bayern Munich remains keen on hiring Max Eberl
This is not the first time Kimmich has urged Bayern to sign players. The German midfielder did express his concerns in summer when Die Roten were struggling to sign players. Die Roten went on to add Philippe Coutinho and Ivan Perisic to the squad late in the summer transfer window.
Bayern has been superb in the Champions League this season, but they will need all their players to be fit to have a chance of winning the competition. In the Bundesliga, they are involved in a four-way title race, so it is likely to go down the wire, similar to last season when they clinched the trophy on the last day of the season.
In such a scenario, Die Roten needs to stay calm and focus on getting the right signings rather than making panic buys. They should focus on being more efficient and proactive in summer to get their top transfer targets at the start of the window. At the moment, Bayern will have to pay huge transfer fees, and top players are unlikely to be sold by their current clubs.
Next. Kahn wants more youth players to succeed at Bayern Munich. dark
This situation also presents a fine opportunity for the youth players coming from the academy. Joshua Zirkzee has shown his quality in the last two league games, and many others could do if they are given chances to showcase their talent. Yes, it is necessary Bayern need players right now, but they would be much better served by trusting on youth and signing their top targets in summer. They may not win all the competitions this season due to this approach, but they will reap long term rewards for this stance.