Marcel Sabitzer tight-lipped over reduced minutes at Bayern Munich

Marcel Sabitzer is currently in camp with the Austrian national team as they prepare for World Cup qualifiers against the Faroe Islands and then Denmark. They currently sit in 4th place in UEFA World Cup qualifying Group F and are in desperate need of points if they want to directly qualify. They are four points adrift second-placed Scotland in the group.

In a press conference previewing the pair of qualifiers, Bayern Munich’s Sabitzer answered questions about the Austrian national team and how focused they are on the task at hand. He was also asked about his time thus far at Bayern after joining from RB Leipzig towards the end of the summer transfer window. More specifically, he was asked about how he felt about only featuring as a substitute thus far for Julian Nagelsmann, to which he remained relatively tight-lipped and diplomatic. “I don’t necessarily want to answer questions on this subject, now it’s about the two international matches. But I’ve settled in well. It’s fun to work for such a big club. With time, the stakes will increase,” he said (Salzburg24).

As it stands, Sabitzer has featured a total of six times for Bayern between the Bundesliga and Champions League. All of said appearances have been him coming off of the bench and he’s clocked a cumulative total of 121 minutes of action. While he might not be outwardly expressing frustration at his lack of minutes thus far, it could be argued that he might’ve anticipated playing a bit more when he made the decision to leave Leipzig for Bayern. There’s still plenty of football to be played this season and Nagelsmann will need all the depth he can get down the stretch when matches start coming thick and fast, but it remains to be seen how much Sabitzer’s role will develop over time.

It’s been reported that Sabitzer has also been spending decent blocks of time speaking with David Alaba at Austria’s camp. Alaba left Bayern for Real Madrid this summer after spending twelve seasons in Bayern’s senior team, having worked his way through the youth teams. For Sabitzer, Alaba is perhaps the perfect liaison to speak to having just started life at Bayern.

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