Breaking: It’s official — Bayern Munich defender Lars Lukas Mai transfers to Swiss side FC Lugano

Update: 10:30AM EST — Mai moves on

Bayern Munich defender Lars Luka Mai has officially transferred to FC Lugano:

Sporting director Hasan “Brazzo” Salihamidzic had this to say about Mai: “Lars Lukas came to FC Bayern at the age of 14 and is a good example of the excellent training at our youth academy. He gained two years of experience in our squad, then match practice in Darmstadt and Bremen, and now he will show his qualities in the top Swiss league. It is always our aim to build a suitable career plan for our youth players. We managed that with Lars Lukas, Lugano can look forward to a well-trained defender. We wish him all the best and every success.”

—CSmith

Lars Lukas Mai has spent the last two seasons on loans with spells at both Darmstadt and Werder Bremen in the 2. Bundesliga after he’d been promoted from Bayern Munich’s reserve to first team in the summer of 2019. In his most recent season with Bremen, he only made a total of 17 appearances across all competitions, which is certainly less than he would have wanted, especially coming off of a 32-appearance season with Darmstadt from the 2020/21 campaign.

Per a report from Bild, Mai could be on his way to Switzerland. It’s become increasingly clear that he does not have a future with Werder Bremen and his contract with Bayern is set to run through next summer. Bild reports that it looks like the defender is on his way to Swiss outfit FC Lugano, who wound up finishing fourth in the Swiss Super League this past season. At Bremen, after settling rather will into the team in the beginning phases of the season, his chances started to dwindle and became few and far between. Unfortunately for him, he did not perform exceptionally well in the few chances he was given during the Rückrunde.

For Mai, the move to Lugano would be an opportunity for significantly increased minutes somewhere despite the overall of quality football being arguably less than it is in the German second flight. Bremen’s promotion back to the Bundesliga by virtue of finishing second in the 2. Bundesliga behind Schalke 04 also means there would be way less opportunity for Mai if he were to stay with Die Grün-Weißen. It was even as early as last month that Bremen had made it clear that Mai would be leaving the club at the end of the season, at least with the assumption he’d be going back to Bayern.

At this juncture, it is not known specifically how much the deal to Lugano would be worth or how long it will be for, but it is generally understood that the move could be completed very soon. Conceivably, it will not be long before Mai is officially confirmed as a player of FC Lugano.