“Should happen promptly”
Bayern boss takes Kimmich under protection-and puts him pressure
05.03.2025 – 9:39 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Max Eberl talks about Joshua Kimmich before the Champions League duel with Leverkusen. He clears up reports, but also puts the player under pressure.
The contract poker between FC Bayern Munich and Joshua Kimmich continues to run. Even before the important Champions League duble against league competitor Bayer Leverkusen, it was not yet clear whether Kimmich would extend his contract that expires at the end of the season.
Accordingly, the negotiations were also a topic before kick -off in the first leg in the Munich Allianz Arena at the transmission streaming service. Expert Michael Ballack knows Kimmich’s situation. In 2005 he also negotiated with Bayern about an extension of the contract. As with Kimmich, a contract offer was withdrawn from the association. Ballack finally switched to Chelsea FC.
The 48-year-old understands both negotiating partners: “I understand the player who of course weighs. He is also at a certain age,” said Ballack. A contract extension at Bavaria probably also means that Kimmich ends his career in Munich. Maybe he wanted to do something else again. “It can be for a long time, that’s right. I would only like it if he opted for FC Bayern if he made it relatively quickly,” Ballack continued.
At the time, he decided against Bavaria because Chelsea was a step forward in terms of sport. Today FC Bayern is much better. “So there may be other reasons,” Ballack speculated about Kimmich’s hesitation.
Bayern sports director Max Eberl, who was also a guest at DAZN, tried to capture some reports about Kimmich and to protect the player. “It’s just a bit of rumbling that Josh is greedy,” he said. “He is not and I would like to clarify that.” Sure, you also talk about the salary, “but Josh is not one who is now looking at the coal and is greedy, but he wants to have a perspective,” continued Eberl. However, he also put Kimmich a little pressure: “At some point you also have to recognize the perspective and decide.”
Why exactly Kimmich hesitates, he was “the wrong contact,” said Eberl. “But the fact is – and Josh feels the same way – at some point there will be yes or the no and then that’s the case,” he said. At a time, however, Eberl did not want to commit himself: “Of course it would have been nice if we had made it before the game, but it should happen promptly.”