FC Bayern: This is how Tuchel plans his defense after signing Kim

Bayern Munich departure of Hernandez

This is how Bayern plans its defense after signing Kim

Status: 09.07.2023 | Reading time: 4 minutes

By Heiko Niederer, David Verhoff, Nico Lonner

Min-jae Kim’s transfer from SSC Napoli to Bayern Munich is the most expensive South Korean transfer in football history.

Those: pa/ZUMAPRESS.com/Alessandro Garofalo

Min-jae Kim agrees with Bayern Munich. The South Korean should form the heart of Munich’s defense with Matthijs de Ligt. The record champions have a remarkably large and powerful line of defence. Coach Thomas Tuchel also has many alternative plans around them.

It’s a solid defensive line. Min-jae Kim is 1.90 meters tall, Matthijs de Ligt, just an inch shorter. Do these giants take FC Bayern high? The 26-year-old central defender Kim from SSC Napoli has agreed a contract with the Munich team until 2028. After the South Korean had completed his mandatory two-week military service at home and then completed his medical check-up under the supervision of Bayern doctors in Seoul, the German record champions pulled Kim’s exit clause of around 50 million euros. The deal is expected to be officially announced in the coming days.

Meanwhile, it is still unclear whether the replacement for Lucas Hernández, who moved to Paris St. Germain for 45 million euros plus bonus payments, will join his new team at the Asia training camp from July 24th to August 3rd in Japan and Singapore or already before that to the training camp at Tegernsee (July 15th to 20th).

What is clear even before the signature: Kim should form the heart of the new Bayern bulwark alongside Matthijs de Ligt. With his size, he fits perfectly next to the Dutchman, who is almost the same size and just as strong. After de Ligt had already developed into the leader and strategist of the defense department in his first Bayern season, the Bavarians are now providing the 23-year-old with an extremely beefy yet lightning-fast duel machine to back him up. It’s not for nothing that Kim has been nicknamed “Monster” since he was young. Two towers for the triple, something like that.

Pavard is no longer to be expected at FC Bayern

But how will coach Thomas Tuchel build his line of defense around De Ligt and Kim? Dayot Upamecano is likely to be a bit behind in central defense after an extremely shaky second half of the season. Since Tuchel mostly relied on a back four and well-rehearsed team parts in his debut season at Säbener Straße, the obvious defensive formation is a row with Alphonso Davies on the left, de Ligt with Kim in the middle and Noussair Mazraoui on the right-back position. As is well known, Benjamin Pavard, who was so strong after the World Cup, is not to be expected, since the Frenchman will not extend his contract, which expires in 2024, and would prefer to leave Munich this summer.

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Surely the recently weakened Davies and Mazraoui have their place in the starting XI but by no means. Access to Raphaël Guerreiro (29/free transfer from BVB) will be a powerful competitor for the Canadian. In the Mazraoui position, Tuchel is hoping to sign Kyle Walker (33), who is currently under contract with Manchester City until 2024.

Bayern lure with a super contract over two years, plus an additional season as an option. Now the Englishman, who has basically signaled an interest in a change, must finally decide whether Munich should approach Pep Guardiola’s club for transfer negotiations – or whether he would rather stay with the newly crowned Champions League winner.

If the lightning-fast right-back, whom Tuchel would like to have mainly because of his defensive qualities, Mazraoui would probably only be a second choice. Since the Moroccan had already complained about not enough playing time last season, the club could consider selling Mazraoui, which is not currently planned. Guerreiro, de Ligt, Kim and Walker could then form the new back line. If Tuchel, like his predecessor Julian Nagelsmann, surprisingly relies on a three-man or five-man chain, the Bayern squad would definitely be good for that.

As tested several times in the 2022/23 season, Upamecano could move into the position of central defender and complete a line of defense from Davies, de Ligt, Kim and Mazraoui. In the event of injury-related absences or suspensions, defensive all-rounder Josip Stanisic is still available. Even if Tuchel has hardly given him any playing time so far, the Croatian home-grown talent under Nagelsmann has already proven to be a solid backup. For example in the round of 16 second leg of the Champions League against Paris Saint-Germain (2-0), when he completely eliminated mega-star Kylian Mbappé (24) over 90 minutes.

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The item was written for the sports competence center (WELT, SPORT BILD, BILD) and first published in BILD AM SONNTAG.