Tanguy Nianzou returns to Bayern Munich training

Per Bayern Munich’s official club web site, Tanguy Nianzou has resumed (partial) training for the first time since sustaining his thigh injury while on international duty with the French U-20 team in September.

After warming up, the session for the 18-year-old consisted of some passing exercises, shooting drills on smaller goals, and dibbling sequences with shooting on the regulation-sized goals. While it was originally anticipated that Nianzou would be making his return at the end of October, getting back in training was a massive step towards getting back to full fitness and perhaps getting into the team at some point after the international break.

Because of the timing of his injury, Nianzou was left out of Bayern’s Champions League squad for the group stages, but he can be added before the knockout stages start. Still, that will likely also depend on how Nianzou performs when he returns from injury, even if that includes spending some time playing with Bayern’s reserves in the 3. Liga.

With the recent meniscus tear sustained by Joshua Kimmich, the timing of Nianzou’s return could also serve to be a boost for Hansi Flick. With Kimmich being out for at least three months, Flick will be forced to take a close look at his personnel and decide how he wants to cope with Kimmich’s absence in midfield.

Flick does still have plenty of options, but Nianzou possesses the ability to play both in defense and midfield, so he could prove to be an important utility option once he’s fully fit. Flick has already made heavy rotations a handful of times this season, but that will be increasingly important as we approach the knockout stages and the later rounds of the DFB-Pokal, assuming Bayern is able to get past Holstein Kiel in round two. Flick will want to have his most important players available for the biggest matches.