The data behind Joshua Kimmich's strong season at Bayern Munich so far

Once again, we have used numbers from the ever excellent DataMB when it comes to a Bayern Munich player for the 24/25 season. After previously showing the numbers for Michael Olise, and Aleksandar Pavlovic - on this occasion, it is Joshua Kimmich.

Having played as a right-back under Thomas Tuchel for the second half of the 23/24 season, Kimmich has been used exclusively in midfield under Vincent Kompany so far, whilst playing as a right-back for the German national team, where he is the new captain.

The 29-year old has been incredible under Kompany so far. In the Bundesliga, Kimmich is averaging 123.9 touches per game, 2.6 key passes per game, over 100 passes per game, and 4.7 long balls a game. He has also created three big chances. Off the ball, he is making 8.1 ball recoveries per game.

Joshua Kimmich excelling in midfield for Bayern and right-back for Germany

In the Bundesliga this season, Kimmich is in the 100th percentile for progressive passes, the 100th percentile for forward passes, and the 89th percentile for forward pass accuracy. When compared to another deep lying playmaker in Granit Xhaka, the Bayern midfielder beats his counterpart in all of the aforementioned categories, as well as progressive carries.

The only on-ball attribute that Xhaka is currently ahead of Kimmich in is key passes. This is pretty encouraging, considering how good the Swiss midfielder has been since moving to the Bundesliga in the summer of 2023.

Interestingly enough, one of Kimmich's low percentiles is defensive actions, ranking in the 22nd percentile. However, Xhaka, someone who is seen as a solid defensive player, and who ranks very highly for duel percentiles - is only in the 25th percentile for defensive actions himself. This suggests that it is a byproduct of playing for such a dominant side, and it is not something to be concerned with.

With the news of Pavlovic being sidelined for a while, there is going to be even more emphasis on Kimmich in Bayern's build-up. Luckily, he is in the best form he has been in for a couple of years now, and feels well equipped to step up to the even bigger expectations in build-up.