Despite a lack of minutes under Thomas Tuchel for Bayern Munich last season, Leon Goretzka made the decision to stay with the Rekordmeister during the summer transfer window, even though there were opportunities to leave. For both Tuchel and new manager Vincent Kompany, the starting preference for the double midfield pivot is Joshua Kimmich and Aleksandar Pavlović, though Portuguese international João Palhinha has been deputizing in place of the injured Pavlović, who is expected to be out until the start of 2025.
For Goretzka so far this season, he has made a total of eight appearances across all competitions, clocking a total of 134 minutes of play. He has yet to make a start for Bayern, and his longest shift came in a 32 minute appearances in the recent 4-0 win over Mainz in the DFB-Pokal, a match that Bayern had already been leading 4-0 by the time the halftime whistle blew. On that occasion, it was really more about Kompany preserving as many of his starters as he could ahead of the Union Berlin match in the Bundesliga just a few short days after.
Per information from Sky Sport journalist Florian Plettenberg (via @iMiaSanMia), Manchester United is one of the clubs showing concrete interest in trying to sign Goretzka during the winter transfer window, and this is not the first time they have expressed such interest. The club just recently announced the appointment of Erik Ten Hag’s successor in the form of former Sporting Lisbon manager Rubin Amorim and they are in the market for a central midfielder.
They have been monitoring Goretzka’s situation at Bayern, knowing full well that he is getting far less time than he would like to be under Kompany and they would also know that his contract with the club is set to run through June 2026. Approaching the final year on his contract, United will know that Bayern is in a crucial period with deciding on Goretzka’s future, having already making it known to him the door was open to leave during last summer’s transfer window.
Plettenberg also reports that, at this current juncture, Goretzka does not have any plans to leave Bayern during the winter transfer window even though there is some interest from abroad. As was the case during the summer transfer period, he is willing to stay with Bayern and fight for his place in the team, but at some point the club will have to make some sort of overriding decision if as he gets closer to the end of his contract. They do not want to lose another player on a free transfer come the summer of 2026.
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