Joshua Kimmich “can’t imagine” Leon Goretzka exiting from Bayern Munich

Despite being out of favor under Thomas Tuchel and there being interest from several clubs across Europe, Leon Goretzka has remained adamant that he wants to stay at Bayern Munich and fight for his place in the squad.

By all accounts and evidence shown from Bayern’s preseason preparation friendlies thus far, Tuchel is showing a preference to using Joshua Kimmich and new signing Konrad Laimer as the main midfield pivot in the center of the pitch.

For Goretzka’s sake, his collective performances last season do not bode well against how positive Laimer has looked alongside Kimmich in the preseason friendlies thus far, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he’s out of the starting lineup for good.

Tuchel was asked about Goretzka being used as a sub in Bayern’s most recent two friendlies against Manchester City and then Kawasaki Frontale in Tokyo, Japan and he said that nothing is set in stone yet and that it wasn’t the right moment to speak about individual players. It is understood that once Bayern returns from Asia, he’s set to speak with players individually to let them know where they stand at the club and what’s expected of them.

With regards to Goretzka and some of the links to clubs away from Bayern, Kimmich recently said that he cannot foresee his midfield compatriot leaving the Rekordmeister during this summer’s transfer window. “I can’t imagine Leon leaving the club,” he told Sport1’s Kerry Hau.

As of most recently, Manchester United, Liverpool, and West Ham United had all expressed interest in trying to potentially sign Goretzka this summer, but nothing concrete with any of the three Premier League clubs has materialized. Even if he’s not currently in Tuchel’s starting eleven plans for his strongest preferred lineup, he will need the depth in midfield as Bayern pushes across three fronts this season and injuries could pop up at any given time.

For Goretzka, he also still has time to prove his case to be a starter with a few weeks left until the season starts in the Bundesliga and a little over two weeks until the DFL-Supercup against RB Leipzig.