Inside the mind of a maniac: Bayern Munich’s Joshua Kimmich is driven by team success

In a recent interview with SPOX, Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich reflected on some recent accolades he received and gave some insight to what drives him internally.

When former teammates Javi Martinez referred to Kimmich as the best “6” in the world, the 26-year-old Germany international took that as a challenge and not an honor.

Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images

“It’s nice to hear something like that — and an incentive to prove that the person who says something like this is not completely wrong,” said Kimmich.

With many people bestowing that kind of praise on Kimmich, it would be easy to think he has reached the ceiling of his development. The high-strung midfielder, however, thinks differently.

“I think that I can take a few more steps in my development,” Kimmich said.

When asked if new Bayern Munich boss Julian Nagelsmann can turn him into a “world class footballer”, Kimmich bristled at the notion of an individual goal superseding the needs of the team.

“I’m not the type of footballer who goes on the pitch and says: “That’s my big goal.” For me, the main thing is that we are successful as a team,” Kimmich said. “We have big plans, especially with the national team. I was able to win the Champions League with Bayern last year, but I haven’t won any major titles with the national team apart from the Confed Cup. And that is now the really big goal.”