With the start of Sadio Mané, FC Bayern’s preparations are picking up speed. A number of national players around Joshua Kimmich are also back from vacation. A few stars are still missing.
The new Bayern star Sadio Mané listened intently to the speech by coach Julian Nagelsmann with his arms crossed in front of his chest.
During the warm-up that followed, the Liverpool-signed spectacle player had a grin on his face as he trotted in his orange boots alongside Alphonso Davies.
The Senegalese, who was bought for more than 30 million euros, started preparing for the new season in the Bundesliga during his first session in Munich, as did a number of other stars. The holiday returnees Joshua Kimmich (27), Serge Gnabry (26), Leon Goretzka (27), Kingsley Coman (26) and Alphonso Davies (21) made coach Nagelsmann (34) sweat, as did the newcomer Noussair Mazraoui (24 ).
Mazraoui’s teammate from last year, Ryan Gravenberch, had already started working in the new team at the beginning of the week. Next Tuesday, national players like Manuel Neuer or Thomas Müller and world footballer Robert Lewandowski should also join the squad. Unless a surprisingly quick agreement is reached with FC Barcelona at Lewandowski.
More signings possible
Mané, Mazraoui and Gravenberch are already fixed, other new stars are being talked about. Speculated commitments such as that of central defender Matthijs de Ligt (22) from Juventus Turin and midfielder Konrad Laimer (25) from RB Leipzig could ensure that there is another big Munich transfer summer. “Fresh blood and changes in the squad” to set “stimulus points” was the announcement from CEO Oliver Kahn, who had repeatedly ruled out a change from Lewandowski.
The eleventh championship title in a row should be here, but also in Europe’s best league in the new season the quarter-finals shouldn’t be the terminus like the last two times. “We want a squad with which we can ideally win the Champions League,” Kahn told the “kicker” these days. There he pointed out the need for reinforcements in the defense headquarters. Basically, one is satisfied with the quality, said the CEO, who was already a world-class goalkeeper. “But we can improve on the points of leadership, volume and presence.”
First important showdown on July 30th
Exciting weeks lie ahead for the Munich team, in which the pressure to succeed on Nagelsmann is growing. “We are condemned to success at Bayern, he knows that too,” said Kahn.
However, Nagelsmann does not have much time for the pre-season. The Bayern stars will present themselves to their fans in the Allianz Arena on Saturday in a week’s time, after which they will go on a week-long trip to the USA with two friendlies and PR appointments. The first important showdown of the summer for FC Bayern is the German Supercup on July 30th at cup winners RB Leipzig. The Munich team will start the Bundesliga season on August 5th with Europa League winners Eintracht Frankfurt.
