Report: Jérôme Boateng “a topic” for Bayern Munich again following Matthijs de Ligt injury

Bayern Munich is reportedly once again considering signing free agent center-back Jérôme Boateng following a potentially serious injury to Matthijs de Ligt.

De Ligt was hurt in the first half of Bayern’s stunning upset in the DFB-Pokal on Wednesday, a 2-1 loss to third division Saarbrücken. Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano are the only other senior center-backs on the roster. Upamecano is recovering from injury and was unavailable against Saarbrücken, while top youth prospect Tarek Buchmann will reportedly out for “several months” after another injury setback.

Boateng has a legal case hanging over his head in which he is accused of assaulting his former partner. However, Bayern sporting director Christoph Freund previously stated the club’s position by saying, “private matters are not a big topic for us.”

That was the last time Boateng was under consideration at Bayern, in early October. While the club declined to proceed at the time, De Ligt’s injury has re-ignited the topic. The 35-year-old, who last played for Lyon, is back training at Säbener Straße according to Bild, as captured by @iMiaSanMia:

Jérôme Boateng is a topic at Bayern again following Matthijs de Ligt’s injury. The German defender was at Säbener Straße again today and resumed training with the second team - Boateng even trained with a first team training kit. Thomas Tuchel remains a supporter of the idea of a short-term deal for Boateng. The idea was discussed internally again. The arguments for a deal are that Boateng is in top shape and Bayern’s defensive needs are huge [@BILD]

It appears also that due to timing, Bayern do not consider Boateng’s legal matters relevant to a possible signing:

As for Boateng’s court process, which is set to be restarted, the next hearings will only take place after the end of this season - therefore Bayern wouldn’t have to worry about further unrest this season should they opt to sign Boateng [@BILD]

Bayern previously had the chance to sign 35-year-old former Borussia Dortmund center-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos as well, but the Greek international has since landed with Real Betis in La Liga.

If you’re not done wallowing in the misery of this loss, you can check out our postgame review/rant about Thomas Tuchel and the state of Bayern Munich at the moment. Listen to it below or on Spotify.

As always, we appreciate all the support.