Vincent Kompany now has a few training sessions under his belt as Bayern Munich manager as the Tegernsee training camp is officially underway for all of the players that are not on extended holiday. He has already made positive impressions with the way in which he is communicating with the players in the squad, how he is already getting his ideas across, and the commanding presence he has out on the training pitch. Not to mention, he has been taking the time to meet with fans, take pictures, and sign autographs.
It will still be a little while before all of Bayern’s international players join up with the rest of the squad, but Kompany is certainly taking note of what he has seen from the players he has in camp thus far, taking stock of how he will implement that come the start of the season. The competitive program officially starts on August 16th at SSV Ulm in the first round of the DFB-Pokal, which is less than a month away.
There are a handful of key players still currently linked with a move away from Bayern this summer, which Kompany will have to take note of. Joshua Kimmich, Matthijs de Ligt, Alphonso Davies and Noussair Mazraoui are all still linked with potential departures during this summer’s transfer window.
As one of the true leaders and veteran players within the squad, Kompany was asked about Kimmich at a press conference from Tegernsee and, more specifically, what role the Belgian manager sees him in. The Germany international prefers midfield, but spent the majority of the second half of last season playing at right-back under Thomas Tuchel and he did the same for Julian Nagelsmann and Germany at the EUROs.
For Kompany, he is not worried about exact, defined roles right now as he knows that positions are always up for grabs based off of how players are performing in training and in matches. As a former pro himself at the highest level, he knows there are no guarantees for any given player.
“I understand the question, I really do. But we could go through all the names now. Harry Kane, (Jamal) Musiala – what do I think about (Leon) Goretzka. We could go on like that all evening. But that’s not my intention. I played at this level and I know that nobody ever told me that I would be a guaranteed starter, even though I was captain. These players are used to meeting the highest standards. We need everyone. If you want to talk about names, we’re completely missing the point. That’s something for the media,” Kompany replied when he was asked about the role he sees Kimmich playing for the upcoming season (via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Stefan Matzke – sampics/Corbis via Getty Images
As things currently stand, there would be more room for Kimmich at right-back, especially since there are now rumors that Mazraoui could be leaving this summer. West Ham United and Manchester United are both heavily interested in the defender. He would likely be ahead of Sacha Boey and Josip Stanišić in the pecking order, too, but in midfield, he would be competing for minutes with Goretzka, Aleksandar Pavlović, Konrad Laimer, and João Palhinha.
What is Kompany cooking? Are the Pep comparisons really warranted? We discuss all that and more — including parallels to another “Guardiola disciple” in Mikel Arteta — on the newest edition of our podcast! Listen to it below or on Spotify.