Joshua Kimmich: Potential destinations for Bayern Munich midfielder this summer
Jude Bellingham isn’t the only utterly brilliant midfielder who could be on the move this summer.
90min understands that Bayern Munich star Joshua Kimmich is the subject of growing interest from around Europe as he’s considering his future in Bavaria.
So, with that in mind, we’ve decided to assess each of Kimmich’s potential destinations during the summer transfer window.
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The last time a long-tenured Bayern Munich midfielder signed for Manchester United it didn’t exactly go to plan. And if you’re thinking ‚who was the Bayern midfielder that signed for Man Utd?‘ don’t worry, most probably are.
That midfielder was Bastian Schweinsteiger, and yes his one full season at Old Trafford was that forgettable.
While Kimmich has been similarly successful at Bayern, don’t expect him to be similarly unsuccessful at Man Utd if he makes this move. The midfielder is much younger and much less injury prone than Schweinsteiger was by the time he rocked up to Old Trafford, and he’d also be joining a team with a bit more of a plan on and off the pitch.
In pretty much every FM23 save, Joshua Kimmich signs for Man City.
That alone makes this signing a possibility.
Add to that the fact that Ilkay Gundogan seemingly has one foot in Catalunya at this point too, and the fact that Pep Guardiola notably adored Kimmich while they were at Bayern together, this move starts to make a lot of sense.
Replacing the outgoing Granit Xhaka with Kimmich would be the equivalent of going from having a cup phone to an iPhone 14.
The German international would give Arsenal’s midfield the dynamism they’ve been crying out for during their rather patchy end-of-season run of form, but he likely doesn’t fit the age profile of players that Arsenal have typically gone for in recent seasons.
At the moment, Moises Caicedo or Declan Rice seem much more likely transfer candidates.
Considering Marco Verratti’s injury record and the fact that he’s turned into the defensive equivalent of a training ground cone this season – he was dribbled past a Champions League-record number of times during PSG’s second leg clash with Bayern Munich – Kimmich would be a rather shrewd signing for PSG in the summer.
Xavi’s recent utterance that „Kimmich is spectacular in my opinion, one of the best in his position“ has gotten quite a few Barcelona fans excited about the possibility of signing the German international.
In many ways, mainly his ability to fill two positions of need at Barca (right-back and central midfield), he’s a perfect signing for the club. Barcelona’s pursuit of Gundogan, however, may mean it’ll never come to fruition.
Kimmich is what you get when you ask ChatGPT to make a Luka Modric-style footballer.
In other words, he is the closest to a like-for-like replacement for an ageing Modric that Real Madrid could ever hope for.
So what’s the issue with this move, you ask? Well, Real Madrid are looking more and more likely to sign the best young footballer in the world right now in Jude Bellingham, and it doesn’t make sense to sign Bellingham and Kimmich and end up having *takes deep breath* Bellingham, Kimmich, Toni Kroos, Marco Asensio, Eduardo Camavinga, Aurelien Tchouameni, Dani Ceballos and Federico Valverde on the books at the same time.
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On this week’s edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders is joined by Toby Cudworth and Graeme Bailey to discuss all the latest transfer news. On the agenda: Tottenham’s pursuit of Feyenoord manager Arne Slot, Bayern Munich’s interest in Declan Rice, Joshua Kimmich, Neymar & more!
If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!