Angelo Stiller squeezed out by latest moves at Bayern Munich

The acquisitions of Marc Roca, Tiago Dantas, and Jamal Musiala came with a price one way or the other for Bayern Munich.

While the financial commitment for those three players was minimal in the grand scheme of thing for the Bavarians, but the fallout for the club’s youth players has been felt in a big way. One of Bayern Munich’s most promising midfield prospects, Angelo Stiller, saw the signings as an indicator that he had no real future with the club.

Photo by S. Mellar/FC Bayern via Getty Images

In what has been speculated for months now, Stiller will leave the club shortly per a report from Sport Bild (print edition):

Angelo Stiller (19) led FC Bayern II to the championship in the 3. Liga as a midfielder in the second half of the 2019/20 season and made three short appearances for the professionals this season: once in the cup, twice in the Champions League. However, Stiller will not extend his contract with Bayern, which expires at the end of the season!

We had known from previous reports that Stiller was heavily considering an exit, but Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick curiously decided to call up — and play — Stiller in the team’s recent Champions League fixtures against Atletico Madrid and Lokomotiv Moscow. For a player who was reportedly set to leave the club, that was a very interesting set of moves.

While that news that Stiller is looking to leave Bayern Munich is not necessarily a surprise at this point, the loss of Stiller — for free — shows how fickle and impactful the transfer world can be for young players at big clubs. While Musiala looks like a world beater and Dantas has shown at least some promise with Bayern Munich II, Roca has failed to impress Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick. Is Roca a better long-term prospect than Stiller? Perhaps, but gambling his career on a battle with Roca as a sixth or seventh midfield option in Bavaria was not a risk Stiller was willing to take:

According to information from Sport Bild, Stiller had already cancelled his contract with Bayern in mid-November, making it all the more surprising that he was allowed to join the professionals for the Champions League match in Madrid two weeks later, playing 14 minutes against Atlético. By then, Bayern already knew that the U-20 international would be leaving.

For Stiller, no matter how much he might have wanted to prove his mettle in Munich, the roster depth and recent acquisitions were not going to allow him the opportunity to do so. For his part, Stiller has built off of a strong 2019/2020 campaign and embraced improving his strength and physicality:

Stiller shined with the second team with his passing and good eye, and also improved his physically recently. Hansi Flick relies on the talent of Jamal Musiala and brought in Roca and Dantas.

While losing one good prospect is not going to damage Bayern Munich’s youth system all that much, Stiller was on the path to being one of those feel-good stories in rising from 3. Liga to the senior team. Regardless, Stiller will be looking for a new home and rumors of a reunion with Sebastian Hoeneß at Hoffenheim could still be in the works.