It is an open secret that Bayern Munich has been going through some drastic changes over the last two to three seasons. Within that span, they have had three different managers, their first trophy-less season in over a decade, and have been faced with the reality that their no longer as dominant in the Bundesliga as they once were.
In addition to the managerial role switching from Julian Nagelsmann to Thomas Tuchel to Vincent Kompany, there has been a sort of changing of the guard amongst the squad, if you will. Gone are the days of a veteran core of players like David Alaba, Jerome Boateng, Mats Hummels, Thiago Alcantara, Xabi Alonso, Frank Ribery, Arjen Robben, Arturo Vidal, Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, and many, many more players who could arguably be mentioned in the same breath.
One thing is still certain, though, places in the squad are no guarantee for any player, and some players are faced with the reality of playing bit part roles in their fight to break into more regular minutes. Such has been the case for new signing João Palhinha, but it has also been prevalent for the industrious Konrad Laimer, who signed from Leipzig two summers ago. The club had agreed to sign him in the winter of 2023 and he has proven to be a bit of a Swiss army knife with his positional versatility under both Tuchel an Kompany, but his opportunities for starting minutes have been harder to come by under the Belgian.
From Austria’s training camp ahead of their upcoming UEFA Nations League matches against Kazakhstan and Norway, Laime referred to Bayern as a “shark tank” in terms of how hard it is to fight for a place in the team. “That’s football. I play for FC Bayern Munich and it’s not make a wish whether you play or not. It’s, as people say, a ‘shark tank’, you have to establish yourself. Of course there’s a lot of competition and good players. There are so many games this season. I will put my all into it and I know that I have what it takes,” he explained when asked about his limited role in the squad (via @iMiaSanMia).
Photo by Marco Steinbrenner/DeFodi Images via Getty Images
So far this season, Laimer has clocked a total of 198 competitive minutes from a total of six appearances across all competitions, the majority of his appearances have come as a substitute off. His pair of starts both came at right back; one was the 5-0 Bundesliga win over Werder Bremen while the other came in the 1-0 loss at Aston Villa in the Champions League.
He can also play in midfield, but Kompany has a plethora of midfielders at his disposal, making more use of Laimer’s defensive abilities. With the upcoming fixtures list after the international break, there will certainly be more opportunities for minutes as Kompany will need to make rotations in the squad, so it will be up to Laimer to make the most of them to stake a claim to more regularly be in the starting lineups.
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