Matthijs de Ligt not ready to anoint Bayern Munich’s backline as world’s best just yet

When perusing Bayern Munich’s roster, some observers might stop on a dime when reaching the defense.

To be blunt, the group is loaded.

Matthijs de Ligt, Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard, Kim Min-jae, Alphonso Davies, Noussair Mazraoui, Josip Stanišić, and Raphaël Guerreiro comprise one of the best, deepest groups in the world.

De Ligt, however, needs to see a whole lot more before he is ready to pop the cork on any champagne.

“There’s no way I can answer that question and I think it’s way too early to even talk about it because we’ve never played with Min-jae before and we need to get to know each other properly on the pitch,” De Ligt told Sport1’s Kerry Hau (as captured by @iMiaSanMia). “We need actions, not words. Purely in terms of names, our squad is very strong, we have very high individual quality in every position. But: In football only the group counts, only the team. You can’t do anything alone, there’s no way that would work.”

While there could be a few changes to the group, even with one or two departures, the defenders have the potential to be game-changers over the course of the season. Maybe more than last season, De Ligt also appears ready to lead the backline and take control of how things operate in front of the goalkeeper.