Bayern Munich has Harry Kane but needs a goalkeeper ahead of Bundesliga season
DUESSELDORF, Germany — Even although Bayern Munich landed the Bundesliga’s document signing in England captain Harry Kane, there’s nonetheless a giant gap within the squad.
Kane has taken on the No. 9 shirt beforehand worn by Robert Lewandowski. That comes with the expectation of scoring targets by the dozen. The switch price — which might reportedly hit greater than 100 million euros ($110 million) — provides to the stress.
“I feel that responsibility. Whenever a club spends a huge amount of money on you, you feel like you have a responsibility to repay that,” Kane stated at his presentation on Sunday.
Kane’s time at Bayern began with a shock the day earlier than when the group misplaced to Leipzig 3-0 within the German Super Cup — a largely ceremonial recreation between league and cup champions. Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel lambasted his gamers — not together with Kane — saying they performed “as if we’d done nothing” within the 4 weeks of pre-season.
Kane fills the hole that Lewandowski left at Bayern, however the search goes on for a goalkeeper, since Manuel Neuer might miss your entire first half of the season. He broke his leg snowboarding in December and underwent extra surgical procedure this month. Bayern chief government Jan-Christian Dreesen admitted Sunday that the membership had tried and didn’t signal Kepa Arrizabalaga from Chelsea. Real Madrid signed the Spanish goalkeeper on Monday, leaving Bayern to proceed its search.
The 37-year-old Neuer hasn’t performed since final 12 months’s World Cup. Bayern had backup Sven Ulreich in purpose for the loss to Leipzig.
The query is whether or not any new goalkeeper is deliberate as a stop-gap just like the signing of Yann Sommer in January — he has since been bought to Inter Milan — or a extra everlasting substitute. Signing somebody like David de Gea, a free agent since leaving Manchester United, might imply relegating Neuer to the bench completely.
Tuchel additionally indicated that the squad wants a defensive midfielder. That might doubtlessly imply much more switch business at Bayern earlier than the window closes on Sept. 1.
Besides Kane, new signings embrace defender Kim Min-jae from Italian champion Napoli, who made his debut instead within the Super Cup. Fullback Raphaël Guerreiro from Dortmund and midfielder Konrad Laimer from Leipzig have each arrived on free transfers, and defender Lucas Hernández left for Paris Saint-Germain.
Kane is hoping to succeed the place one other big-name signing from the Premier League failed. Sadio Mané left Bayern earlier this month for Saudi Arabia after a single disappointing season following his arrival from Liverpool.
Last season at Bayern began with then-coach Julian Nagelsmann attempting to do with out a direct substitute for Lewandowski after the Polish striker departed for Barcelona following eight years and 344 targets for the membership.
Nagelsmann tried to make use of Mané as a part of a versatile ahead line alongside the likes of Leroy Sané, Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman, however ultimately resorted to deploying Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting in a extra normal center-forward position — Lewandowski-era ways with out Lewandowski.
When Nagelsmann was ousted in March, Tuchel was centered on the brief time period forward of the anticipated overhaul within the offseason. Tuchel says gamers like Sané, Gnabry and Coman stay key to his plans.
“After the lack of Robert Lewandowski there was a shift of accountability on their shoulders to attain, possibly everybody anticipated them to attain abruptly double figures, which didn’t occur from numerous causes. There’s by no means one purpose in soccer, there are lots of causes,” Tuchel stated of them throughout Bayern’s pre-season tour of Singapore.
“In general I’m happy because the work ethic is good, I’m happy because the quality is anyway good but the work ethic is top and they work hard for the team. All of them are team players, all of them are reliable.”
Muddling by for one more season is just not adequate for Bayern, and dropping the Bundesliga title to Dortmund can be a seismic shock in German soccer.
