Bayern Munich’s Julian Nagelsmann has plans for Paul Wanner, just maybe not yet

When Paul Wanner inked his contract extension with Bayern Munich, he was formally promoted to the first team and many assumed we would start to see the youngster make some appearances with the club.

That has not exactly worked out over the last two weeks, but manager Julian Nagelsmann is asking for everyone to be patient.

“I fought for him so he wouldn’t leave the club, so he stays with us,” Nagelsmann said (as captured by Bundesliga.com). “I had some discussions with him that were important to convince him. My goal is for him to be a key first-team player for us one day. That’s the idea and why we extended with him. Now it’s about using this half year to fully find his feet, be fully tested and everything that’s part of it. We need to create a good individual training plan, but also handle school. You forget with a 16-year-old that there’s compulsory education in Germany, which we as Bayern Munich and also Paul Wanner need to comply with.”

With a tight game against RB Leipzig and a blowout loss to VfL Bochum occurring over the past two weeks, opportunities to roll Wanner out have been scarce.

“It’s about the foundation to give him the best possible development. Then we’ll see what the next steps are,” Nagelsmann remarked. “He’s also had a lot of playing time for his age and will have more playing time. He’s in training with us and doing well. But it’s about good quality training, developing physically, getting to a top physical level. Then he’s a player with really great potential, of which – ideally – Bayern and I will have great joy in the coming weeks, months and years.”