Examining Bayern Munich’s candidates on the defensive midfielder transfer market

Goalkeeper or defensive midfielder? Bayern Munich have got their main transfer business of the summer concluded after signing striker Harry Kane from Tottenham, but there are one or two more priorities to get squared away before the season starts. And with a lower price target in Daniel Peretz at GK, it looks like the door is open for larger investment at DM.

If Bayern are serious about getting Thomas Tuchel a new No. 6, they’ll have to act soon. As we’ve covered, the latest names kicking about — via kicker journalist Georg Holzner — are PSV’s Ibrahim Sangaré (25), Real Madrid’s Aurélien Tchouaméni (23), Leicester City’s Wilfred Ndidi (26), and Benfica’s Florentino Luís (23).

We’ve covered the first two before:

Neither appear to be that likely, to the point that the moves might have been ruled out from either the club or player side, or both.

Overall, though, it is an interesting complement of players: all young without being youngsters, all decidedly options at the No. 6 instead of the bevy of No. 8s Bayern had been linked to earlier in the window.

Price-wise, Tchouaméni is a recent monster signing by Madrid. The other two outside the Premier League are naturally the apple of many a Premier League team’s eye, and even Ndidi’s name has long been circulated in the rumor mills. A move for one of these three might not be blockbuster territory, but it certainly won’t be scraping the bargain bin. That may have an effect on the caliber of goalkeeper that gets brought in.

From Bayern’s perspective, none of these players will be coming in to ride the bench. In Leon Goretzka and Konrad Laimer, the Bavarians have physical presences but their strengths lie in carrying the ball up the field or pressing like a machine. A true No. 6 would change the look and shape of Bayern’s attack — and maybe shift Joshua Kimmich to a more advanced role after all.

If that happens, the knock on effects could be significant. Will Goretzka and Laimer and Ryan Gravenberch ride the bench and compete for time with Kimmich? Or is the No. 10 — and Thomas Müller — going to get phased out?

As Matthijs de Ligt recently said, this is a profile currently missing on the squad. It now seems only a matter of time before it is brought in, whether that be this summer’s transfer window or the next.