Could Leon Goretzka become a surplus piece in Bayern Munich’s midfield?

The Bundesliga Round 18 duel between Bayern Munich and Eintracht Frankfurt could prove crucial for the rest of this season. Fourth-placed Frankfurt will be looking to repair their reputation after the last time the two teams clashed at the start of the season and defend their reputation as a team that can both embarrass and beat Bayern. Bayern, on the other hand, will be looking for their first win after restarting the league after the winter break. However, they will have to do without one of their mainstays, Leon Goretzka. Again.

Leon Goretzka ended Thursday’s training session early due to, as coach Julian Nagelsmann later confirmed at a press conference, a thigh problem. According to his coach, the German midfielder should be available again next week for the DFB-Pokal match against Mainz. Still, this is another in a long line of absences for him.

Since his arrival in Munich in July 2018, the former Schalke 04 midfielder has already missed 62 games with 25 recorded incidents, ranging from colds and coronavirus to hip problems or torn muscle fibres, as at least recorded by the Transfermarkt database.

Leon Goretzka is thus slowly but surely developing a reputation as an injury-prone player, and although this has died out alongside teammates such as Corentin Tolisso, he often leaves his coach to his own devices with his health problems.

This might not be a problem, however, if Goretzka was not traditionally, when available, a mainstay of the starting lineup and also one of the club’s highest paid players. Both of these facts, in conjunction with Goretzka’s frequent unavailability, lead the committed public to cautiously suggest whether financial resources and minutes would be better used in other ways.

Goretzka remains one of the team’s captains, a member of a tight circle of leaders in a cabinet that consists of Manuel Neuer, Thomas Muller, Joshua Kimmich and Kingsley Coman.

This role is reflected in the contract he signed in September 2021, which ties him to Bayern Munich until the end of the 2025/26 season, when the German international will be 31 years old, and which is said to earn him €18 million a year.

Despite all this, Bayern Munich are strengthening in the midfield. The immensely talented Ryan Gravenberch joined the club in the summer, while a deal for Konrad Laimer, whose contract with RB Leipzig expires in June, is already set to be finalised for next season.

Laimer is two years younger than Goretzka, while Gravenberch is just 20 years old. So it would be tempting to say that these are, at least to some extent, purchases for the future. And certainly, this idea is no doubt behind the actions of any seriously run club in the transfer market.

However, the speculation about the completed arrival of Laimer comes at the same time as concern about the performances of the Goretzka-Kimmich midfield pairing.

Many commentators point to the fact that although both are individually brilliant footballers, their combination in the so-called double-pivot does not get the best out of either of them.

Joshua Kimmich is one of the most creative midfielders in the game. But he is also prone to defensive lapses and positional irresponsibility. His mindset always goes forward, into the attack.

Next to him, Leon Goretzka then excels around the opposition’s whitewash. His interplay with his teammates in the attacking third often rocks the opposition’s cramped defence and leads to penetrating shooting opportunities. Alternatively, he can score from the second wave alone in the penalty area.

But then there is no one left in the midfield to primarily defend. The solution offered by the change of formation fails to be a discovery in Jamal Musiala, who excels in the number ten position. Furthermore, the addition of Kimmich, as Bayern Munich’s midfield, with a more reserved teammate has already proven to be a possible solution.

From the start of the season, during one of Leon Goretzka’s absences, Marcel Sabitzer has been playing as a defensive midfielder. He, although he came to Bayern as a more offensive player, was able to limit his own play in the midfield pairing to the benefit of Kimmich and, as a result, to the benefit of a team that looked much more balanced.

Sabitzer lost his place in the lineup after Goretzka’s return, but with the assumption of more minutes for Gravenberch and the arrival of Laimer, Nagelsmann may find a better balanced midfield combination in a player he is willing to give up a spot in the starting lineup even at the expense of one of the faces of his team.

If that were to happen, it is hard to imagine that Goretzka, on the other hand, would accept a fifth-wheel role in his prime footballing years, just as it is hard to expect Bayern Munich to willingly pay this overage piece of the puzzle the kind of salary Goretzka currently enjoys. No doubt there would then be a debate with the central issue of a possible Goretzka transfer.

It could be offered. Goretzka is, one would like to say, the sole client of his agency Neubauer 13 Management GmbH & agent Kristin Neubauer. I’m really not putting much stock in the term “sole client of his agency” here. Leon Goretzka is one of only two Neubaer 13 Management clients under the age of 30 and the only player actively playing in any top competition.

As such, he is the only possible source of lucrative income for his agent from this background and the appetite to negotiate a move to a new destination for a fat fee might not be negligible.

So, aside from all the speculation about Gravenberch’s hosting and Sabitzer’s departure, it could be a much more prominent figure at the current Bayern Munich who could be forced to look for a new engagement.

Sources: Transfermarkt, Fbref