Bayern Munich fans were subject to a surprising and aggravating announcement hours before the club’s friendly against Grasshoppers Club Zürich: The recently returned Josip Stanišić had suffered a serious injury that would keep him out for several weeks. This news would be devastating on its’ own, but it becomes worse when one considers that new signing Hiroki Itō is also recovering from a long term injury. Both players were brought in to strengthen the full back position as well as the center back position, yet both spots may look vulnerable in the wake of these injuries.
Nevertheless, Director of Sport Max Eberl outwardly projects confidence that the Bavarians’ squad is strong enough to handle the absences of the two, as captured by @iMiaSanMia: “We have a good squad and are well equipped. When there are injuries – as was the case with Hiroki Itō – the first question was whether we’ll do something on the transfer market. Planning is one thing, but hopefully the boys will be back soon. Josip had his surgery today and we hope it went well. But we haven’t heard anything yet because he’s probably still sleeping. He will come back and then the squad will be set. That’s why we have a big squad – without getting too big – to deal with things like that.”
There is some disturbing but fitting symmetry to how Bayern Munich’s first defensive reinforcement — Hiroki Itō — was injured in the club’s first friendly before the second reinforcement-Stanišić-was injured hours before the last friendly. Big injuries are inevitable at Bayern and it is the sporting team’s responsibility to take these into account by building a squad that can handle these absences without needing to panic into another signing. Whether or not those responsible at Bayern succeeded will be something we will observe over the next months…
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