Thomas Tuchel admits regret in letting Josip Stanišic’s loan to Bayer Leverkusen happen

Bayern Munich’s defensive movements in the summer transfer window have been all over the place. They lost Lucas Hernandez, Benjamin Pavard, and Josip Stanišić (on loan). They brought in both Kim Min-jae and Raphaël Guerreiro, but having only Noussair Mazraoui at right back is not exactly ideal for depth in a quest to push across three fronts this season.

Questions were justifiably asked of Bayern’s coaching staff and front office when Stanišić was allowed to get loaned out to Bayer Leverkusen when there were suggestions Pavard definitely didn’t want to stay at the club and sign a new deal. The French defender was approaching the final year of his contract at Bayern, so it was a pivotal period in terms of him either leaving in a manner where Bayern could get a transfer fee for him, or staying and signing a new contract.

The optics of both Pavard and Stanišić leaving did not look great from the outside looking in, but Thomas Tuchel recently revealed that a deal between Pavard and Inter was nowhere close to being done when the decision was made to let Stanišić’s loan move happen. The Bayern manager also revealed that, in hindsight, it would’ve been better to keep the Croatian defender for this season. “Yes, you could argue that (keeping him would have been better). The decision doesn’t look fortunate for us now. When we made the decision to let Stani go, there was no offer for Pavard. There’s a big gap in the position,” he explained in a recent press conference ahead of the Bundesliga clash against Borussia Mönchengladbach (via @iMiaSanMia).

Photo by Tom Weller/picture alliance via Getty Images

This is at least some clarification from Tuchel himself that the club did not yet know Pavard would 100% be leaving for Inter Milan before they let Stanišić go out on loan to Leverkusen. It’s also quite possible that Stanišić’s camp didn’t know what Pavard’s fate was going to be either and felt that his best option for consistent minutes would lie somewhere else.

In the long run, the Croatian international will at least get more top flight experience at a Bundesliga club that have started the season very brightly and can be serious title contenders this season, giving Bayern a run for their money. He’ll come back with more experience, and hopefully, more market value in the event Bayern wants to permanently offload him to flip a profit.