Bayern Munich looking at another midfield logjam in 2023/24?

If you are trying to keep up with the transfer rumors within the Bayern Munich midfield group, you might find it...puzzling.

By all accounts, the club’s top three midfielders — Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, and Marcel Sabitzer — have been extremely good this season. The squad’s fourth option, Ryan Gravenberch, has also shown some flashes of brilliance as well.

If you had to nitpick the group, you would probably say that Bayern Munich does not have a true stay-at-home ball-winner in the mix. Perhaps that is why the club has been linked to RB Leipzig defensive midfielder Konrad Laimer over the past few months.

With Laimer being a free agent, there has been increased speculation (see today’s Daily Schmankerl) that Bayern Munich will get a deal done with Laimer shortly...but what of the rest of the crew?

Sky’s Florian Plettenberg (as captured by @iMiaSanMia) has some information that might be surprising to some of you:

As things stand, Marcel Sabitzer wants to stay at Bayern. Regarding Gravenberch, the plan for him is to become a regular starter within the next two years. As long as no midfielder leaves the club, signing Laimer is difficult to imagine.

So...maybe no Laimer?

BFW Analysis

Sabitzer not wanting to leave Bayern Munich is not shocking. However, Gravenberch becoming a regular starter in two years seems...aggressive? Offensively talented, but defensively deficient, Gravenberch would have to win a position over Kimmich or Goretzka, while also leaping over Sabitzer and potentially Laimer on the depth chart.

If Plettenberg’s information is correct (he is a reliable source), it would lead many to think that Bayern Munich could be looking to sell Goretzka in the summer of 2025 at the latest.

By that point, it can be assumed that Sabitzer would also be gone and the club would truly be looking at a changing of the guard in the midfield.