Lucas Hernandez joins Bayern Munich’s growing French division

In years past, the starting eleven of Bayern has very closely mirrored that of the German national team. Now the Bavarian Giants are seemingly moving away from that strategy, particularly in defense. With this week’s signing of 2018 World Champion Lucas Hernandez, the Bayern back line has suddenly changed drastically. Hernandez, along with international compatriot Benjamin Pavard, will arrive in Munich this summer.

With these two additions, the Bayern defense will go from the current:

• Alaba - Hummels/Boateng - Süle - Kimmich

to something like this:

• Alaba - Hernandez - Süle - Pavard

The new lineup would depend, of course, on whether or not Niko Kovac decides to play Joshua Kimmich in the midfield.

The French connection goes beyond just the defenders, with both Corentin Tolisso and Kingsley Coman also playing for France. Making sure to replace 2014 World Champions Mats Hummels and Jerome Boateng with two more World Champions had to be important to Bayern. One or both of Hummels and Boateng appear to be on their way out, and they’ll be taking their winning experience with them. Now there is an ensured winning experience and mentality at Bayern for years to come. Hernandez and Pavard are both 23 years old, so Bayern have made a big investment—115 million euros to be exact—in the future.

In a recent interview (SZ), sports director Hasan Salihamidzic shared his thoughts on Bayern’s newest record signing:

I’m very happy that we were able to sign Lucas Hernandez. He’s one of the best defenders in the world as well as a World Champion. In addition, Lucas will continue our tradition of outstanding French players and strengthen our team.

In the coming years, we’ll see if the new additions are able to convert their international glory to winning titles for Bayern.