One of Bayern Munich’s standouts from the preseason was attacker Gabriel Vidović, who was able to make his presence felt with two goals during the friendlies.
After spending last season on loan with Dinamo Zagreb, Vidović looks like he could be in a position to compete for playing time — but probably not with Bayern Munich given how deep the roster is in Bavaria these days.
Sky Sport journalist Kerry Hau shed some light on why Vidović was unavailable:
Gabriel Vidović is missing from FC Bayern’s squad for the cup match in Ulm. The reason for this is a muscle strain that he sustained during the week. The 20-year-old attacker was unable to train on Thursday, but was back on his bike on Friday and will return to team training soon.
The future of Vidović (contract until 2025, there are several options for a loan) is still unclear. But: Vincent Kompany is satisfied with the performances of the Croatian, who played a strong pre-season (with two friendly goals).
Bayern Munich Goalkeepers: Where They Stand
Bayern Munich has developed some of the greatest goalkeepers in history, such as Sepp Maier, Oliver Kahn, and Manuel Neuer. Each player developed his own signature style and played long, remarkable careers.
Neuer is starting to creep into his twilight seasons, with some pundits believing that we will walk away after this season alongside longtime friend and teammate Thomas Müller. Surely Bayern will try to persuade Neuer to stay forever, but the club is well positioned to replace him when the time comes.
Manuel Neuer
2023/24 Stats: 33 starts, 2,953 minutes, 43 goals allowed, 10 clean sheets, 68% save rate
Financials: €4M market value, €21M salary, 1 year remaining on contract
Origin Story: €30M transfer from Schalke in 2011
Scheme Fit: G.O.A.T. Neuer’s illustrious career includes 11 Bundesliga titles, six DFB-Pokal trophies, two Champions League victories, and one glorious World Cup. With nothing left to accomplish, he’s still a world class keeper at 38 years young. The inventor of the sweeper keeper position, he loves to operate outside of the box (pun intended). He has fantastic reflexes and is known for making unique saves. This might be his last year at Bayern or pull a Gianluigi Buffon and play until he’s in his mid forties.
Daniel Peretz
2023/24 Stats: 1 start, 107 minutes, 0 goals allowed, 1 clean sheets, 100% save rate
Financials: €3M market value, €1.5M salary, 4 years remaining on contract
Origin Story: €5M transfer from Maccabi Tel Aviv in 2023
Scheme Fit: Backup. Despite a summer injury and a living legend ahead of him on the depth chart, Peretz wants to stay in Munich this season and serve as the number two goalkeeper. He’s a younger, more promising option than the current backup and is playing the long game in hopes of taking over for Neuer upon his retirement. Peretz’s physical stature makes him an imposing challenge for opponents, but he needs more game time to develop properly.
Sven Ulreich
2023/24 Stats: 15 starts, 1,350 minutes, 20 goals allowed, 4 clean sheets, 64% save rate
Financials: €700K market value, €2M salary, 1 year remaining on contract
Origin Story: Free transfer from Hamburger in 2021
Scheme Fit: Honorary backup. Besides a season at Hamburger, Ulreich has been Neuer’s number two since 2015. Ulreich is on the final year of his contract and is probably start to look for a nice retirement house. But he’s served as a reliable player at Bayern and never really complained. Servus, Sven.
Alexander Nübel
2023/24 Stats (with Stuttgart): 34 starts, 3,060 minutes, 39 goals allowed, 14 clean sheets, 70% save rate
Financials: €12M market value, €1.5M salary, 5 years remaining on contract
Origin Story: Free transfer from Schalke in 2020
Scheme Fit: Heir Apparent. Nübel won’t technically be playing at Bayern this season, but he just signed a lengthy contract extension and went back to Stuttgart for another year on loan. He’s produced double-digits clean sheets in three consecutive seasons and will be ready to be called upon by Bayern and the German national team once Neuer hangs up his boots. Nübel is a smart, lanky keeper who has great instincts and will fit well once he finally makes it back to Munich.
Bayern Munich's Other Summer 2022 Signings: Where Are They Now?
We’ve gone back to the summer of 2022 and have checked up on the other four players that Bayern Munich signed alongside the Dutch centre-half.
Sadio Mané
Arguably Bayern Munich’s highest-profile signing in the summer of 2022 was Mane from Liverpool. The Senegal winger came with a huge reputation but struggled to showcase his best form while in Germany.
Mane ultimately only spent one season at the Allianz Arena before he was seeking a fresh opportunity elsewhere.
Arguably his most infamous moment in a Bayern Munich shirt was when he had a bust-up with Leroy Sane after a 3-0 defeat to Man City in the Champions League.
After his solitary year in Germany, he’s since moved to Saudi Arabia and now plays alongside Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr.
The 31-year-old scored 19 goals across all competitions last season and despite being linked with an exit this summer, manager Luis Castro has insisted that he won’t be sold.
“He is an Al Nassr player and is with us,” Castro told reporters when discussing Mane’s future. “God willing, he will help the team by scoring goals.”
Mathys Tel
Bayern secured a great deal when they landed Tel for a fee of around £24million. The teenage forward is still a raw prospect, but his potential is obvious to see.
Capable of playing anywhere across the forward line, the 19-year-old has been a useful asset for Bayern Munich over these last few years.
Given that he’s predominantly used as an impact player off the bench, his scoring record in Germany is quite impressive. He’s scored 16 goals over the last two years, averaging a goal every 125 minutes.
Still at such a young age, Tel’s future looks very bright.
Noussair Mazraoui
Mazraoui and De Ligt clearly come as a double act these days. The pair both joined Bayern Munich from Aajx during the same summer and now they’ve both moved to Old Trafford.
While not a regular starter for Bayern Munich, Mazraoui was a solid performer for the club during his two-year stay.
He’ll now be looking to fill the boots of Aaron Wan-Bissaka at Man United.
“It’s an incredible feeling to be a Manchester United player, and I cannot wait to walk out at Old Trafford wearing the red shirt,” Mazraoui said upon signing for United.
“I know that I’m joining the club at an exciting time; everyone I’ve spoken to has the same ambition for us to win trophies together and I can feel the determination to achieve that.”
Ryan Gravenberch
Expectations were high following Gravenberch’s arrival from Ajax in 2022. Bayern handed him a five-year deal upon his arrival, but the Dutch midfielder found opportunities hard to come by in Germany.
He struggled to dislodge the likes of Joshua Kimmich and Leon Goretzka during his debut season and only ended up playing 947 minutes for the club across all competitions.
Sensing his opportunities would be limited in Germany, he left after just one season and joined Liverpool in a deal worth £34million.
He was in and out of the starting XI under Klopp last season and will now be hoping to establish himself as a regular under Arne Slot.
Kane and Son's Lasting Impact
Bayern Munich got the better of Tottenham Hotspur in both of the friendlies they played against one another. One was in Seoul South Korea as a part of the Audi Summer Tour, while the second was at Tottenham stadium in North London. Bayern won the second friendly 3-2, winning the Visit Malta Cup, but former Spurs striker Harry Kane turned down the chance to lift the trophy with his fellow teammates out of pure respect for his former club.
The England skipper only just returned to preseason camp for Bayern after his extended holidays from England making it to the Euro 2024 final, where they ultimately lost to Spain 1-0. He had a brief cameo against his old club, when he came on in the 80th minute to replace Joshua Kimmich, having a few decent chances on goal at a stadium where he previously bagged a plethora of goals.
For what it was worth, Kane was just getting some minutes in the legs in what was more of a gesture of respect to his old club; it was not necessary to bring him on for a footballing matter, but rather as a show of respect to his previous club. It was part of the agreement between the two clubs when Kane agreed to join Bayern last summer, with all of the proceeds from the most recent friendly going directly to Tottenham.
Kane was also able to see some old, friendly faces, and former teammates Son Heung-Min could not hold back in his admiration of his old striking partnership when he was being interviewed after the friendly. “It was a huge honor to play alongside him. I wish him all the best for the season and hope he can win a lot of trophies and individual things as well. He’s such an amazing player and he deserves everything,” the South Korean international said of the other half of what is still one of the most prolific scoring duos the Premier League has ever seen (via @iMiaSanMia).
From their time playing alongside one another in Tottenham’s attack, Son and Kane had cumulatively combined for a total of 47 goals where one has assisted the other. This is a mark that is still an impressive 11 goals higher than that of Chelsea’s Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba from the time when they were both in the Chelsea side. In the 2020/21 season following on from the COVID-disrupted 2019/20 campaign, Son and Kane combined with each other a record-breaking 14 times.
Bayern Munich: Back to Its Old Self This Season?
Bayern Munich midfielder Konrad Laimer came to the club to win trophies.
That objective was not a successful one last season, as the Bavarians were held trophyless — something that has grated on fans since the campaign ended. For Laimer, the quest to solve last year’s problems is ongoing, but achievable because of just how much talent there is on the roster.
“We have to continue to analyze what we didn’t do so well last year. Then we have to internalize the new coach’s idea of football and implement it as a group. And then it’s about consistently bringing the individual qualities that we bring as players onto the pitch. Then I am convinced that with the quality we have, we will have a very successful season,” Laimer told FCBayern.com (via @iMiaSanMia).
Laimer is correct about the team’s level of talent — it is outrageous. The end results are what matter for the Bavarians this season, though. One way or the other, the amount of trophies that Bayern Munich collects this season will determine how it is ultimately remembered — and if having all of that talent was worth it.
